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A review by eren_reads
Bellies by Nicola Dinan
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.0
I'll start of this review with things that I liked about this book. Firstly, I enjoyed how Nicola Dinan explored the morally grey aspect of personal choices. How one person may feel as though they are in the right and another may feel that they are instead, particularly in the context of a romantic context, and acknowledging how both of these statements can be true as human relationships are complex and nuanced.
Additionally, the depiction of transition felt very authentic and real. Oftentimes I find that authors seek to depict either an idealised image of transition and that the trans person must be perfect to elicit our sympathy or the trans person is frequently traumatised in a manner that gives the impression that all there is to being trans is being hurt. However, Nicola Dinan doesn't do this and instead creates a more authentic and nuanced portrayal of transition and trans people.
Despite all this I simply cannot give this a higher rating for one reason, the writing. I'm someone who likes quite flowery language but this books writing was quite simplistic. Additionally, this book is written in a dual perspective of the characters Tom and Ming, both of which are told in the first person. The issue with this is that there wasn't a distinctive character voice for either and they just blended into one another. As a result, and because of the lack of a chapter title to indicate what perspective you are reading from, it sometimes took me 1-2 pages to understand what character's perspective I was reading from based on contextual clues.
Additionally, the depiction of transition felt very authentic and real. Oftentimes I find that authors seek to depict either an idealised image of transition and that the trans person must be perfect to elicit our sympathy or the trans person is frequently traumatised in a manner that gives the impression that all there is to being trans is being hurt. However, Nicola Dinan doesn't do this and instead creates a more authentic and nuanced portrayal of transition and trans people.
Despite all this I simply cannot give this a higher rating for one reason, the writing. I'm someone who likes quite flowery language but this books writing was quite simplistic. Additionally, this book is written in a dual perspective of the characters Tom and Ming, both of which are told in the first person. The issue with this is that there wasn't a distinctive character voice for either and they just blended into one another. As a result, and because of the lack of a chapter title to indicate what perspective you are reading from, it sometimes took me 1-2 pages to understand what character's perspective I was reading from based on contextual clues.