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A review by emerald2
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
1.0
DNF review:
I wanted to enjoy this book, the premise seemed interesting and I wanted to get enthralled by a book about the trans-feminine experience, my experience. This was not it.
My thoughts are all over the place with this book. But my overwhelming thought is that they hate themselves and have internalised that hatred into self abuse. The characters say something fucked up, possibly for shock value, and then it is never brought up again or questioned. This makes the overall themes of the characters all thoroughly awfully people with very little redeeming qualities, who seemingly do harmful things because they think that's "what women do".
"Reese wanted to end their games, to get hit in a way that would affirm, once and for all, what she wanted to feel about her womanhood: her delicacy, her helplessness, her infuriating attractiveness. After all, every woman adores a fascist."
This is not challenged in any way in the book. He hits her and then she talked about why he hit her, how it made her feel more like a woman and that "it's all very complex, really". The comments that they make about Katrina go unmentioned and unquestioned, despite the fact that Ames and Reese face similar fetishization.
This book seems to describe the trans experience as a monolith. That all of our experiences are just a cry for help, we all just love BDSM because our life is pain and we much enjoy that too. All we do is go out to clubs or parties and must subconsciously enjoy the attention from chasers because it's attention at all.
""We look fucking hot. Why is everyone ignoring us?" It was a topic that, as the drinks lowered inhibitions and standards, gave way to us pairing off and hooking up with eachother". This treats our attraction to other trans people as secondary to cis men (third if you count chasers) and that we can only be desirable to others in our community if our standards are lowered by alcohol.
The way that the book focuses its attention around heterosexuality and men is upsetting to me. The fact that an entire chapter is dedicated to a six month relationship with a man is given the same space as a long queer relationship is telling
This could not be further from my experiences with myself and other trans people I know, the ways that we describe our experiences through joy, not pain.
All in all, I am deeply disappointed in this book
I wanted to enjoy this book, the premise seemed interesting and I wanted to get enthralled by a book about the trans-feminine experience, my experience. This was not it.
My thoughts are all over the place with this book. But my overwhelming thought is that they hate themselves and have internalised that hatred into self abuse. The characters say something fucked up, possibly for shock value, and then it is never brought up again or questioned. This makes the overall themes of the characters all thoroughly awfully people with very little redeeming qualities, who seemingly do harmful things because they think that's "what women do".
"Reese wanted to end their games, to get hit in a way that would affirm, once and for all, what she wanted to feel about her womanhood: her delicacy, her helplessness, her infuriating attractiveness. After all, every woman adores a fascist."
This is not challenged in any way in the book. He hits her and then she talked about why he hit her, how it made her feel more like a woman and that "it's all very complex, really". The comments that they make about Katrina go unmentioned and unquestioned, despite the fact that Ames and Reese face similar fetishization.
This book seems to describe the trans experience as a monolith. That all of our experiences are just a cry for help, we all just love BDSM because our life is pain and we much enjoy that too. All we do is go out to clubs or parties and must subconsciously enjoy the attention from chasers because it's attention at all.
""We look fucking hot. Why is everyone ignoring us?" It was a topic that, as the drinks lowered inhibitions and standards, gave way to us pairing off and hooking up with eachother". This treats our attraction to other trans people as secondary to cis men (third if you count chasers) and that we can only be desirable to others in our community if our standards are lowered by alcohol.
The way that the book focuses its attention around heterosexuality and men is upsetting to me. The fact that an entire chapter is dedicated to a six month relationship with a man is given the same space as a long queer relationship is telling
This could not be further from my experiences with myself and other trans people I know, the ways that we describe our experiences through joy, not pain.
All in all, I am deeply disappointed in this book