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A review by julesturnspages
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
challenging
reflective
medium-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
2.5
Okay so initially I thought this was written by a cis woman which definitely colored my reading experience and review but I just googled her and she’s trans so there goes those points. However I thought she was a cis woman because of the weird dedication in the front and the weird reverence of divorced cis women throughout. Either way that’s on me folks. This book is NOT exploitative and it’s less odd than I think.
That being said I still didn’t like this book. It definitely helped me confront my own gender identity in a way I probably wouldn’t have had I not read this book, but the plot was contrived and the characters unlikeable. There were several moments where I thought to myself “this could have been a substack essay” instead of a narrative with two women who I actively disliked for their personalities and a man who I just felt so depressed for. The lack of resolution in the end just completely ruined it for me. Yes I know it would be uninteresting if everyone just got what they wanted in the end but it kind of felt abortive (heh), like the author didn’t have an answer to the question of whether this style of parenting would work and therefore didn’t want to explore it anymore. Okay, maybe this book wasn’t written for me and that’s fine. I think Peters is a very good and thoughtful author. But the story itself just didn’t do it for me and I would have appreciated everything more without any characters at all, perhaps just as a series of personal essays musing about gender and parenthood. Thanks!
That being said I still didn’t like this book. It definitely helped me confront my own gender identity in a way I probably wouldn’t have had I not read this book, but the plot was contrived and the characters unlikeable. There were several moments where I thought to myself “this could have been a substack essay” instead of a narrative with two women who I actively disliked for their personalities and a man who I just felt so depressed for. The lack of resolution in the end just completely ruined it for me. Yes I know it would be uninteresting if everyone just got what they wanted in the end but it kind of felt abortive (heh), like the author didn’t have an answer to the question of whether this style of parenting would work and therefore didn’t want to explore it anymore. Okay, maybe this book wasn’t written for me and that’s fine. I think Peters is a very good and thoughtful author. But the story itself just didn’t do it for me and I would have appreciated everything more without any characters at all, perhaps just as a series of personal essays musing about gender and parenthood. Thanks!