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A review by careinthelibrary
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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
3.5
The world is unkind to trans women and this nightmare of the future is even crueller.
The violence is so visceral. Picking this up was like choosing to plunge full-body into a pool full of sparking livewires (in the best way). It's electric. It's harsh, dark, ultraviolent, perverted, fast, tense, and all of this makes it so realistic. Wonderfully horrific.
This is SO trans. Not just transgender but transgressive. They refuse to fit into the ideal box set up by neoliberal society. They don't always pass. They're pre- "the surgery". They're violent. Loud. Not sexless, in fact they're horny. They're T4T. They don't always use the most pc language for themselves. They don't fit into the gender binary that many demand trans women must in order to be respected or acknowledged as women.
I loved Fran and Beth. They are perfectly imperfect. This makes them so interesting, so real, so compelling. I also loved Indi's character so much. Her fatness isn't hidden away but always described with dignity. She is desirable, intelligent, hardworking, badass. Things we don't see fat people depicted as very often.
The middle chunk of the book got a little chaotic for me with too many perspective changes (it's hard to follow on audio) and plot that I wasn't as interested in. But then the ending got me good, leaving me with tears in my eyes. As hard and cruel as this story is, there is also so much love and tenderness. The sense of community between the four main characters is everything.
I don't like explicit sex in books (I usually just skim-read over those scenes) so obviously this part of the book wasn't my favourite. But that's a me thing, nothing I'd knock down the book's rating for. That being said, there's a lot of criticism about the sexual content in this book and most of it seems to be coming from cis women who are offended by it. So I'll iterate my stance on that.
Depictions of misogyny do not make it a misogynist book. Review bombing a woman's book because you don't agree with her politics does make you misogynist.
I won't police women's depictions of rape which is unfortunately such a common experience of womanhood, and especially trans women's experience. It is graphic and disturbing in Manhunt and I believe it's meant to shock to prove a point and elicit a response. Mine was sympathy, anger, disgust, and kinship. Unfortunately others have failed to sympathize with these women protagonists and instead are apathetic or irritated by its provocative violence. I wonder if these readers resonated more with the ideology of the XX TERFs. I didn't feel that the sexually violent scenes were glorifying or romanticizing sexual assault and I won't presume to tell women how they should or shouldn't discuss, depict, and process sexual violence.
The violence is so visceral. Picking this up was like choosing to plunge full-body into a pool full of sparking livewires (in the best way). It's electric. It's harsh, dark, ultraviolent, perverted, fast, tense, and all of this makes it so realistic. Wonderfully horrific.
This is SO trans. Not just transgender but transgressive. They refuse to fit into the ideal box set up by neoliberal society. They don't always pass. They're pre- "the surgery". They're violent. Loud. Not sexless, in fact they're horny. They're T4T. They don't always use the most pc language for themselves. They don't fit into the gender binary that many demand trans women must in order to be respected or acknowledged as women.
I loved Fran and Beth. They are perfectly imperfect. This makes them so interesting, so real, so compelling. I also loved Indi's character so much. Her fatness isn't hidden away but always described with dignity. She is desirable, intelligent, hardworking, badass. Things we don't see fat people depicted as very often.
The middle chunk of the book got a little chaotic for me with too many perspective changes (it's hard to follow on audio) and plot that I wasn't as interested in. But then the ending got me good, leaving me with tears in my eyes. As hard and cruel as this story is, there is also so much love and tenderness. The sense of community between the four main characters is everything.
I don't like explicit sex in books (I usually just skim-read over those scenes) so obviously this part of the book wasn't my favourite. But that's a me thing, nothing I'd knock down the book's rating for. That being said, there's a lot of criticism about the sexual content in this book and most of it seems to be coming from cis women who are offended by it. So I'll iterate my stance on that.
Depictions of misogyny do not make it a misogynist book. Review bombing a woman's book because you don't agree with her politics does make you misogynist.
I won't police women's depictions of rape which is unfortunately such a common experience of womanhood, and especially trans women's experience. It is graphic and disturbing in Manhunt and I believe it's meant to shock to prove a point and elicit a response. Mine was sympathy, anger, disgust, and kinship. Unfortunately others have failed to sympathize with these women protagonists and instead are apathetic or irritated by its provocative violence. I wonder if these readers resonated more with the ideology of the XX TERFs. I didn't feel that the sexually violent scenes were glorifying or romanticizing sexual assault and I won't presume to tell women how they should or shouldn't discuss, depict, and process sexual violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Incest