Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Detransition, Baby

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

115 reviews

hazelbynature's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sundayfever's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was an incredible read. A book written for trans people, not to explain trans people to the world. Deeply flawed but loveable characters who make mistakes and hurt each other, but with an undercurrent of love.

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An unapologetic and eye-opening book about the trans experience (although, as the book demonstrates, there is no one way to be trans). The premise was so niche and different but nonetheless it was dealt with in a very realistic way, and the three main characters were all flawed and vaguely unlikeable but written in a way where you could still sympathise with them. Be warned: in order to enjoy the book you need to be comfortable with taking the scenic route to the plot, but Torrey Peters’ writing - if a little meandering - is so brilliant that I got a couple hundred pages in before realising that not much had actually happened plot-wise. I suspect that I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

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fisheyedfish's review

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emotional funny informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

DNF
Even halfway through it still felt like a slog. I found myself caring more about the present story but annoyed by the constant flashbacks.
As a nonbinary person, I was annoyed that the author kept the characters very binary. They were either a man or a woman with no allowance for something in between or discussion of gender as a spectrum. I read Ames/Amy as a genderfluid person but the author and the other characters wanted to shove them in a box.

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lareinamags's review

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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xosirenox's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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shortstackz's review

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challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Parenthood looks and means something different to everyone, and Detransition, Baby dives into what that might look like to a cis woman, a trans woman, and a former trans woman. We take a dual viewpoint from Reese, a trans woman, and Ames, a former trans woman. Exploring how their experience of gender has shaped their views of parenthood. The dual timeline simultaneously covers the years across Reese and Amy's romantic relationship, and the weeks following Ames discovering he has gotten Katrina pregnant. I lov d that the story centered on the hopes and dreams of trans women without saying away from their struggles.

I am a cis woman, of white and Asian decent, which is the lens I was reading this through. Ames brought an interesting discussion of gender and gave me a better understanding of gender dysphoria and maybe the reasons someone would choose to live as their birth gender. The dual timeline of Reese and Ames brings so much light to the daily joys of trans life, which I think will help a lot of cis readers to grow alongside Katrina. I think this would have been strengthened from including vignets or interludes from Katrina's perspective, which could have shown how she was navigating her own journey through parental identity. Katrina makes choices. Those choices are, interesting? I have no idea how she jumps to them other than plot.

The characters of Reese and Ames are so well developed that the lack of development in Katrina stands out as our main cast of 3. Peters prose is witty, funny, and easy to read. There are fun pop culture references thrown in throughout the pages, and I loved the nuanced gender conversations that occured. I wish Katrina's motivations were more clear to the reader, not front and center but in vignettes scattered throughout.

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