Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

54 reviews

kylieqrada's review

emotional funny informative lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Very good. I learned a ton about trans identities. We love an unlikable female character. Lots of sex terms I didn't know the meaning of and had to Google. I can't write book reviews when I'm depressed. 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Infidelity, and Transphobia

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

laudateluna's review

challenging funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Detransition Baby is a novel that equally feels made for me and not for me. It's a fantastic one, if you have any interest in exploration of gender or more specifically of femininity/womanhood; read it! It deserves to be thought about.

Please do not read the spoiler section until you have come to an understanding of what the book was talking about. In specific how it ended. This is not a "spoiler" of its content, its a mindset that could change how you experience the novel.

It was an enlightening journey that died for me with its concept. I was expecting the book to be more than it set out for, to go beyond what it was in text, however for me it was made impossible by its ending. Its not a "bad" ending, its just direct in telling you what it was about. That might work for you. For me it stopped my process of exploration of what it means to me. Because finding what I identified with was made so much harder by its purpous. I dont like when stories are literal. There is a genuine debate to be had of metaphorical effectiveness towards most people, but like I said before not for me. Maybe it is necessary and my experience is too novel. 

This book is perfect. I truly mean that. It's pacing is great so are its characters, dialogue, jokes, ideas, prose. I loved every page. Torrey Peters wrote one of the most compelling debut novels I have ever had the priviledge to read. (I also highly reccomend her novellas) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

blovessummer's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, and Transphobia

samvanz12's review

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Outing, and Misogyny

Moderate: Infidelity

jennikreads's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abortion, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

bookishnatalia's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt

thecriticalreader's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 

 

 

 

 

Plot:

Peters slowly, subtly turns the lives of Reese, Ames, and Katrina into an intricately and mind-blowing plot. It is never predictable, but it feels congruent with the characters. 

 

Characters:

By putting the readers into the heads of Reese and Ames alternatively, Peters manages to build a full portrait of each character. How the character thinks about themselves and how others view the character mesh into a cohesive whole. Peters dives deep in the psychology of her characters in beautiful and explicit language, but she shows as much as she tells. Even before she describes Reese’s toxic behavior and Ames’ journey to detransition, Reese’s manipulativeness and Ames’s self-hatred come through in her writing. Although we never get Katrina’s point of view (thankfully—the last thing I wanted to read was a cis person’s perspective), Katrina’s strengths and flaws come through clearly through Peter’s subtle writing. As damaged as all three characters are, they are easy to understand and with understanding comes sympathy. 

 

Setting:

Most of the book takes place in New York City, although flashbacks take us to places such as Middleton, WI. I don’t know if Peters has ever been to any of these places, but it feels as though she has lived in them for her entire life. The small details add up to form complete pictures of her settings, something many authors try to do but fail. She brilliantly captures the essence of these places in a few lines. 

 

Themes:

Wow. This book has themes. It somehow manages to capture all of the absolute mind-boggling contradictions, pain, and ridiculousness that come with a transgender identity. She takes those and melds them with parenthood, motherhood, and even race. She gets it. 

 

Writing Style:

The informal shifting of perspectives and time jumps can get confusing, but otherwise Detransition, Baby is clearly written. Peters takes time to flesh out all of her characters, settings, and plot points in a way that feels real. It should be noted that she does not take times to explain terminology or concepts to cisgender people—she throws them right in with all of the insider jargon of the transgender and queer communities. However, if the reader is patient and joins along for the ride, they will eventually grasp the meanings behind the language (or they could just look it up).

 

Conclusion:

What a refreshing piece of literature from the trans perspective that doesn’t feel as though it was written for a cisgender audience! Peters doesn’t obsess over justifying her character’s messy queerness to her readers, she accepts it and treats them as whole people. Yes, every aspect of these characters lives are defined by their gender—such as it is for many transgender people, whether they want to admit it or not—but their individual personalities shine through nonetheless. However, this book was also an excellent piece of work regardless of its perspective. The writing, characters, plot, and setting are magnificently crafted.

 

Other Points

·      This book is not an “easy” read intellectually or emotionally. A lot of the concepts are hard to grasp, and Peter’s isn’t afraid to use big words. It requires your full attention at all times.

·      Everyone who reads this book in good faith will find themselves self-reflecting. Just because this book was written by transgender person with transgender characters, doesn’t mean that trans readers are off the hook—Peters exposes all of their ridiculous, self-injurious coping mechanisms and defense mechanisms (as well as white queer people’s sense of self-importance). However, she does it in a way that is not unkind or angry, and she does the same thing for her characters who are cisgender, higher class, and/or mixed-race. 

·      This book contains countless triggering things, it’s probably best to avoid it if you think something might set you off. I feel as this would especially apply for trans women, because it’s so full of uncomfortable, raw truths about gender dysphoria and coping mechanisms. I would try to list them, but there’s just… so…many. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infertility, Grief, and Miscarriage

katymaryreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I didn't expect to like this book as it's way outside my comfort zone, but I really did. The author did a great job at getting us inside the characters' heads. Yes, they were mixed up and had messy lives, but aren't/don't we all to some extent? I loved the exploration of what it means to be a woman and to be a mother, and the fact that the book didn't present any easy answers. A really good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

The hype for this book is real! I was scared to read this in a way because of the hype, scared that I wouldn't like it etc BUT I ended up really liking it. 

This book is dark, tense and emotionally driven. Told from the perspective of three very different people. Reese, a transwoman who is loving, stubborn and passionate, Aimes Reese's former partner who while they were together was an out transwoman living as Amy who since destransitioned back to male and Katrina the woman now pregnant with Aimes' child. 
I've never read a story like this, from page one you are hooked into the story and invested in all three of these characters lives. It tackles so many issues in a small space of time which is brilliant. Dealing with the complex nature of sex, gender and sexuality as well as issues and pressures of mother and woman hood! After a lot of passages I had to put it down and take a moment because it's hard going and sometimes feels like a punch to the gut. These characters are so well written. 
The plot in this book isn't massive, the main focus of the story happens over a few weeks and then some chapters are told in flashbacks that are mainly Reese and Aimes' backstories which adds so much depth to them! It's very character driven which suits Torrey's writing style so well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage

stayathomereader's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence