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archiebb 's review for:
Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix
by Gabe Cole Novoa
Very cute and clever in its retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I think it's a net positive to have more stories that explore the truth that transmen have always existed and to have more moments of seeing trans people's loved ones really show up for them.
My basic criticism of this book is something I also see a lot with feminist books. As a parallel, many feminist authors when writing historical fiction seem to just take today's concept of feminism and copy and paste it into that setting, which often feels jarring and incredible. Here's the thing, there have always been people who believed in something outside of the patriarchy, so why can't we imagine more about what that would have looked like in that time period and setting versus just transplanting modern feminism into this character without explanation.
As the author's note points out there were trans people in the Regency era and so I wish Novoa would've been more creative imagining how would people have talked and thought about this differently then than we do today? This struck me particularly in the scene where Mr Bennet reveals he knows Oliver's true identity and his speech to Oliver seems cut and paste from an article on "How to support your trans child" you could read today online.
I know this is more challenging because of the lack of writing we have today directly from trans people about their experiences in this era or others further back. I also feel like people might avoid it under the assumption that readers will think the characters aren't inclusive enough and criticize them, but like lets challenge the idea that the way we approach things today is the perfect way to do it. Like the arc of time isn't a straight arrow where we are getting more and more accepting and we've reached the end of our development. So it's ok to see how things might've been better, or just different back then.
My basic criticism of this book is something I also see a lot with feminist books. As a parallel, many feminist authors when writing historical fiction seem to just take today's concept of feminism and copy and paste it into that setting, which often feels jarring and incredible. Here's the thing, there have always been people who believed in something outside of the patriarchy, so why can't we imagine more about what that would have looked like in that time period and setting versus just transplanting modern feminism into this character without explanation.
As the author's note points out there were trans people in the Regency era and so I wish Novoa would've been more creative imagining how would people have talked and thought about this differently then than we do today? This struck me particularly in the scene where Mr Bennet reveals he knows Oliver's true identity and his speech to Oliver seems cut and paste from an article on "How to support your trans child" you could read today online.
I know this is more challenging because of the lack of writing we have today directly from trans people about their experiences in this era or others further back. I also feel like people might avoid it under the assumption that readers will think the characters aren't inclusive enough and criticize them, but like lets challenge the idea that the way we approach things today is the perfect way to do it. Like the arc of time isn't a straight arrow where we are getting more and more accepting and we've reached the end of our development. So it's ok to see how things might've been better, or just different back then.