maeverly 's review for:

In at the Deep End by Kate Davies

2.0

---

Spoiler

I don’t think I’ll be finishing this book. I’m 70% finished at this point bit i don’t think I can continue it.

At first, it seems like a relatively good story. The characters are kind of boring but likable. The romance is decent. The scenes can be hot.

But holy shit. The representation is AWFUL. Which would be fine, if it were critiquing those aspects. And I’ve read spoilers that Julia does dump Sam in the end but the text doesn’t seem to be engaging with what exactly the issues are, its not represented in a critical lens.

For starters, the poly and SM representation disgusts me. Everything about it is coercive. Not only is the consent not only not enthusiastic, its often not even asked or declared. This is extremely problematic in both SM and poly culture. It is unethical. Again, had the author engaged with this a little more critically, it could be excusable or even good. But thats not what it is. No one except Julia’s internal monologue has any issue with it.

And the trans representation, oh my god. Sam, a lesbian, has slept with (I may be misremembering the exact numbers but it was near this) 121 cis women, 12 trans men and 3 cis men. 0 transfems, apparently. Which in the real world, is totally fine. Maybe she just never met any she liked or had an opportunity with. However, in a list of other completely arbitrary numbers of partners, choosing to write that she has not or will not sleep with transfems smells a bit TERFy. It didn’t sit right with me but I was willing to excuse it, however I will note that the reviewers at The Guardian loved this book for specifically transphobic reasons, which tells me all I really need to know.

About halfway through, we finally get some (possibly) transfem representation. In the form of a single drag queen. Julia thinks she is beautiful, but when she says so, the others laugh hysterically and then everyone talks about her Adam’s apple and penis. Nice. Very cool. Lovely even.