A review by confusedchameleon
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

Peters writes in an approachable, human way which puts the feelings and rich internal lives of her characters front and centre. Those characters are well-rounded, believable individuals whose lives are traced all the way from their current situation back to their childhood. This gives us a self-awarely Freudian perspective on their development as people, and allows us to understand their feelings and selves very intimately.

All of these above facts are true, and all are credit to this book and its author's writing skill, however the thing about this book that really absorbed me in thought and left me there was its portrayal of motherhood. The perspectives the novel's feminine dyad - Reese and Katrina - have on motherhood left me thinking for a long time, and presented some ideas on trans parenting and the desire to be a parent that I haven't seen explored before. 
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