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A review by rigbees
Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you're in the literary circles I'm in, "omg the representation" will probably overshadow discussion of what this book actually is (since, after all, it starts as Jewish trans man vampire who works in an archive). The story is about a whirlwind romance that the main character, Sol, finds himself in while his archive starts to mysteriously decay and his work nemesis discovers that he's sleeping in the office. During this tumult (having to find a vampire-friendly place to live on short notice in the beginning), he is also reconnecting with his body as this chance meeting turns into the first love of his life.
This book also talks deeply about fandom and the ways that identity can be found in fandom. The collection donated to the archive at the start of this book is related to a show that Sol was deep in fandom over in the 90s. This is part of the initial bonding with the romantic interest, and is teased out throughout the book. At one point, Sol's teenage posts online resurface, about how he felt compelled to write m/m slash fic even though (at the time of writing) he was a lesbian.
Likewise, this book pulls in quite a bit about how trans men have historically faced transphobia from people like them. In this case, it matches my own experience as trans masc person. There is a prominent butch woman in the book who seems to think that all butch women want to be men, and Sol did the community a disservice by actually transitioning (please see the butch flight panic in the 90s!).
I'm glad I read this book, and I think that trans men/masc people who love vampires would probably find it a valuable read. I'd hesitate to recommend this book to a cis audience, but that's mostly because I feel like it would expose too many painful points of my life to people I don't trust to understand the depth of my experience!
This book also talks deeply about fandom and the ways that identity can be found in fandom. The collection donated to the archive at the start of this book is related to a show that Sol was deep in fandom over in the 90s. This is part of the initial bonding with the romantic interest, and is teased out throughout the book. At one point, Sol's teenage posts online resurface, about how he felt compelled to write m/m slash fic even though (at the time of writing) he was a lesbian.
Likewise, this book pulls in quite a bit about how trans men have historically faced transphobia from people like them. In this case, it matches my own experience as trans masc person. There is a prominent butch woman in the book who seems to think that all butch women want to be men, and Sol did the community a disservice by actually transitioning (please see the butch flight panic in the 90s!).
I'm glad I read this book, and I think that trans men/masc people who love vampires would probably find it a valuable read. I'd hesitate to recommend this book to a cis audience, but that's mostly because I feel like it would expose too many painful points of my life to people I don't trust to understand the depth of my experience!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia and Ableism