Reviews with content warning for Murder - Fèms magnifiques et dangereuses: Mémoires affabulées d'une fille trans

“I don’t believe in safe spaces. They don’t exist. I do, however, believe in dangerous stories.”

This fabulous memoir follows the journey of a young trans girl who has decided to flee her oppressive hometown of Gloom, "where the sky is always grey and the rain is always falling", in search of love, sisterhood and herself ✨

She finds herself on the Street of Miracles, and finally finds a sense of belonging in a group of fabulous, somewhat broken but absolutely fierce femmes, each with her own unique story to tell 💅

“Taller in my heels, I am closer to some dangerous heaven.” 👠

When a trans woman is found brutally murdered, she joins forces with her sisters to form a vigilante group to fight back the transphobes and misogynistic police officers who patrol the Street of Miracles. This is where things get a little out of hand..

“Sometimes fiction is truer than facts, and the trouble is knowing which fictions are facts and which facts are fictions.”

A one-of-a-kind, riveting debut memoir, that combines gritty realism with magic, a bit of madness, and a lot of badassery. Not a traditional memoir, but one that breaks down pre-defined gender and genre norms. An enchanting story of freedom, sisterhood, and transformation.👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽

Honestly, I cannot recommend it enough. Thom's poetic yet blunt writing style makes it an absolute pleasure to read.💝

Content Warnings

emilycmorris0923's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

orchidd's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

this book was so friggin FUN. the magical realism aspect was one of my fav things--how it was naturally woven into the setting and story--and it was a joy to keep reading simply bc i wanted to see what weird, interesting, simultaneous-knitted-brows-and-smile-inducing things were gonna pop up on the page.

and it was so refreshing to see a trans author write a trans story that defied any external expectations, instead steamrolling into an adventurous, exciting romp full of diverse and multidimensional trans women doing fun and badass things, yet upholding and supporting one another in their community-minded found family, while also tackling serious topics like self-love, self-discovery, identity, and clashing ideals. the various forms of verse, prose, and even play made the story more effective and interesting as well.

this was unlike anything ive ever read and im excited to read more works by kai cheng thom.

Content Warnings

becksusername's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad fast-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

4.75

This was such a beautiful memoir/novel

Content Warnings

suzyreadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

simple_alien's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Magical and bada**. A must read.

Content Warnings

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was a very strange experience. I treated it more like non-fiction with heavy metaphor than fiction iwth real life inspiration, but I rated it like I would fiction, so I really don't know. But in any case, I don't agree with every theme the author included in here (opening with "I don't believe in safe spaces" certainly had my back up from the get go), but I do think they are presented in a deep way. The writing style is amazing, and the audiobook narrator includes inflections that make it almost sound like listening so spoken word poetry at every moment. I really enjoyed this book over all.

Content Warnings

More...