You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
feeling_queer 's review for:
Detransition, Baby
by Torrey Peters
This is a story of queer kinship among some deeply flawed but sympathetic characters. When Ames (a detransitioned trans woman now living as a man) impregnates his girlfriend/boss Katrina, a cishetero mixed-race white and Asian woman, he wonders whether they could raise their baby alongside his ex-girlfriend Reese, who was a trans mother to him and wants nothing more than parenthood. The utopic vision of a progressive queer family is strained by multiple forces; Reese is a hot mess who fucks married men and spends a lot of time wallowing in her actual (and perceived) victimhood and resentments; Ames is deeply insecure and dissociative, still grappling with the incidence of violence and betrayal that arguably led to his detransition; and Katrina is trying her best to open herself up to queerness while still working through internalized biases, stereotypes, and her often unacknowledged class/cishetero/white-passing privilege.
As a queer and trans woman, Peters understands the contours of queer communities and identity politics, and some of my favorite scenes were the ones in which she critiques Oppression Olympics and community in-fighting. I really appreciated that although she is a white writer, and her two trans protagonists are also white, she uses the character of Katrina to complicate Reese’s understanding of her own victimhood, pointing to how her experience is always shaped by whiteness and is not applicable to all (trans) women everywhere. Some people have critiqued the writing for being too superfluous or too much, but I think the author is just capturing the subjectivity and internal monologue of her characters—and it’s perhaps important to remember that trans women are often deemed to be “too much.” Overall I really enjoyed this book although it was very sad at parts (trans anatagonism and misogyny has got to go), and I’m glad that it is gaining attention from readers and some award committees.
4.5 stars
Content warnings: suicide; abuse; transphobia; HIV/AIDS phobia; miscarriages and abortion; violence against trans women
As a queer and trans woman, Peters understands the contours of queer communities and identity politics, and some of my favorite scenes were the ones in which she critiques Oppression Olympics and community in-fighting. I really appreciated that although she is a white writer, and her two trans protagonists are also white, she uses the character of Katrina to complicate Reese’s understanding of her own victimhood, pointing to how her experience is always shaped by whiteness and is not applicable to all (trans) women everywhere. Some people have critiqued the writing for being too superfluous or too much, but I think the author is just capturing the subjectivity and internal monologue of her characters—and it’s perhaps important to remember that trans women are often deemed to be “too much.” Overall I really enjoyed this book although it was very sad at parts (trans anatagonism and misogyny has got to go), and I’m glad that it is gaining attention from readers and some award committees.
4.5 stars
Content warnings: suicide; abuse; transphobia; HIV/AIDS phobia; miscarriages and abortion; violence against trans women