Reviews

Little Fish by Casey Plett

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Wendy is a trans woman living in Winnipeg, Canada. She has her circle of LGBTQ+ friends many of whom are dealing with the messiness with life as trans people. Amongst their group, they experience substance abuse, suicide and sex-work. Wendy discovers evidence that her grandfather may also have been transgender. Wendy pokes into her family's past to see if she can find out the truth about her grandfather, all while dealing with the realities of her own life as a trans woman.

This was a powerful read. It really opened a window allowing the reader to peer into the life of a trans woman. The book was dark at times but at others very endearing. Wendy as a character is a complex human with her fair share of problems but the desire to make the best of her life and discover who she really is. The book is filled with conversations between Wendy and her circle. The dialogue is richly developed and really helps drive the novel.

Thank you to the publisher for the audiobook!

melonfizz's review

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4.0

“And then she realized how dumb, pointless, childish, and princess-like it’d been to think any part of her body could be kept sheltered and untouched and loved. The thought went up in ashes without remorse or sadness.”

this book is written with such an intimately personal touch that i felt like Wendy was a friend by the time i finished reading. the style of writing is more stream-of-consciousness than i usually prefer, but it lends itself to the storyline, which is ultimately not plot-driven. unlike many books (mostly written by cis authors) featuring a trans protagonist, this felt like an insightful character study of a regular girl living in the world.

the only clichés in this book were ones also found in real life. despite my trans experience being very different from wendy’s and that of most transfem people, this book felt incredibly realistic and really resonated with me. everyone is flawed, loose ends are not tied up, people get hurt, and Wendy still keeps living.

coyotegospel's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

line's review

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

littlespookysmut's review

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4.0

I had this from the library on my Kindle and I wasn't paying attention and it got returned :( BUT I was able to check it out again and it is so good!! It doesn't really have much of a plot in my opinion but I really loved the story and all the characters. It's pretty sad at times and doesn't really have an ending but it made me feel a lot of emotions.

amande9727's review

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1.0

I read a third of it only, but I'm gonna stop here. I didn't know what to expect, but definitely not something so depressing :/

The writing itself isn't working for me. There's more "slice of life" than an actual plot for now, which could be fine, but it's so... emotionless. It's a sequence of action the MC do, very factually... Maybe it's supposed to reflect the state of apathy of the MC, but it doesn't make the reading very fun.

And since the summary and comment on the back of the book was promising a good insight on the life of a trans women, all the insight I'm getting here is that it's really really sad...

(Spoilers)
The MC has a clear drinking problem, seems generally pretty apathetic except for the occasional burst of anger, find herself in situations with guys that I personally find pretty creepy but it doesn't seems to be a problem, except for the 2 sexual assault that have happened in only 100 pages...
I'm no psychiatrist, but there seems to be a lot of repressed issues there... Hopefully it get addressed (and solved?) by the end of the book, but I don't have the energy to go through all the pages that are left.

I'm not criticizing the fact that it's sad, but personally if it's sad And not super well written, I'm just not going to enjoy reading the book.

One last thing that confused me, was that her grandfather wasn't actually trans (the thing the plot is supposed to be about), but gay. But she's gonna investigate anyway, not out of lgbt solidarity, but because he might be trans anyway as "people didn't understand the difference themselves" back then?... What? I'm pretty sure that the people in question could understand that "I like boys" isn't equivalent to "so I'm a girl". Thats kinda what being gay is about actually...
I suppose that the author is gonna give her reason, because the story would already be over if that wasn't the case, but I'm really confused by the logic here.

Actually, General confusion is the main feeling this book left me with. Hope the MC get better, though.