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A review by whatjaimereads
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Detransition, Baby follows the story of two and a half women, their joint foray into the world of queer parenting, and what it means to be yourself when that self is an interloper to society.
The discussions within this book around gender, fetishisation, and parenthood are handled fluidly, and sensitively, and are unique to any other queer fiction that I’ve read. Peters has written deeply realistic, multi-faceted characters that each offer their own insight into the struggles faced by marginalised communities. This novel is driven by its characters and discussions of their flaws, and it visibly benefits from the author’s Own Voice perspective as a queer woman.
However, this insight comes with the weight of knowledge that the reflections in Detransition, Baby are true-to-life. There is a huge amount of graphic, sensitive content, and some of the storytelling can become over-indulgent within these areas. Our cast of characters are all suffering from deep trauma in their past/present, which makes for some really heavy reading. By about chapter 9 I was completely emotionally exhausted, so I urge you to proceed with caution.
This is not the book that I was expecting from its synopsis, but it probes some really important topics, and for that reason it is undeniably an important read.
*ARC gifted by Serpents Tail in exchange for an honest review*
The discussions within this book around gender, fetishisation, and parenthood are handled fluidly, and sensitively, and are unique to any other queer fiction that I’ve read. Peters has written deeply realistic, multi-faceted characters that each offer their own insight into the struggles faced by marginalised communities. This novel is driven by its characters and discussions of their flaws, and it visibly benefits from the author’s Own Voice perspective as a queer woman.
However, this insight comes with the weight of knowledge that the reflections in Detransition, Baby are true-to-life. There is a huge amount of graphic, sensitive content, and some of the storytelling can become over-indulgent within these areas. Our cast of characters are all suffering from deep trauma in their past/present, which makes for some really heavy reading. By about chapter 9 I was completely emotionally exhausted, so I urge you to proceed with caution.
This is not the book that I was expecting from its synopsis, but it probes some really important topics, and for that reason it is undeniably an important read.
*ARC gifted by Serpents Tail in exchange for an honest review*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia