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I'm conflicted.

The writing is great. Sharp and subversive. Lots of social commentary. Centres trans experiences. Some amusing moments.

But I struggled to root for the characters because they were all so very selfish, and showed such little regard for each others' feelings and needs.

Made me miserable in the same way that All Fours and The Pisces did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

"If you are a trans girl who knows many other trans girls, you go to church a lot, because church is where they hold the funerals."

?

funny to read this in the middle seat of a packed flight shuttling a Methodist church group. Smart AND fun, a rare feat for a novel these days!! Clearly a debut (stilted dialogue, esp early on), but delivers on its impressive ambitions. What I took away from this is that motherhood, like all expectations of womanhood, simultaneously dehumanizes and humanizes. The only way women become people is by giving ourselves over to the care of another.

#TransRightsReadathon late to the readathon & late to getting to this title that‘s been on my TBR for a long time. Might get to some trans nonfiction, my reading time hasn‘t been as much as I would like it to be lately.

I was tickled today to see the MacDonald‘s that‘s mentioned in the tagged novel. #literarytourism

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I think this is an important book, the messy emotions and queer family structure highlighted are all true, but I struggled with it a bit. Accepting the decisions the three of them had come to was … I didn‘t really believe it.

I saw myself a lot in Ames, their trauma, struggles with dissociation. It was hard to sit with and see on the page. I‘m not trans, but as a queer person I struggled a lot.

#readyoukindle
#lgbtqbookbingo2024

#WhereAreYouMonday takes me to my current home city of NYC! I love reading about where I live or where I‘m going to travel.

The familiarity of the place and feeling you get when you have a deeper understanding of a place is something I love.

😂 Yes as someone who lives in NYC this is correct.

Back on the train for an hour on the way to New Haven!

This has been on my kindle for a while so started it this morning!

I think this book underlined my need to read more transgender people's memoirs.
There is a great deal of focus on transgender women's experiences and how the world interacts with and treats transgender women.
However, the book is also full of themes which are not my forte: 1/?

I'm certainly in the vast minority of people who did not enjoy this book - I even opted to #hailthebail with little under a hundred pages to go as I found myself skimming whole paragraphs. I found the constant ping-pong of trump cards between the characters tiresome, all of whom I found obnoxious and unlikeable to the point of being exasperated by them. (1/?)

I know I just said I was sick of angry, clipped-writing-style millennial books about women being angry with society, but maybe I should rephrase it to add ‘but only if they do it REALLY well‘. This isn‘t the kind of book I like much anymore but it was so so well executed, so thoughtful and original, so good at being both dark and funny and touching, that I couldn‘t not love it.

#TransRightsReadathon Day 4
Can't have a recommendation list w/o the Woman's Prize nom Torrey Peters!
A meditation on relationships, breakups, being trans, and what being a mother means. I do not normally read or enjoy motherhood books, but this 1 is fantastic. Reece is a dynamic character whose life is vivid and realistic. When her girlfriend detransitions and later calls to ask Reece to be the mother of his child she must decide what to do.

Day 2 of the #transrightsreadathon. Not finished with book 1 yet (though loving!) but needed something digital to start right before bed last night.

My selection of books to read for #transrightsreadathon starting today. For every book read, I will donate £5 to my chosen organisation, Mermaids. This amazing charity supports children and YA.

https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/

I will commit to reading after the 27th to increase my knowledge of trans rights and life.

#transrights #transrightarehumanrights #bookstagramuk #bookstagram #tbrlist #knowledgeispower

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is an important novel for so many reasons. It's one of the first novels published by an out trans woman by a big five publishing company. For this, her debut novel, Peters won the first ever nomination for a Women's Prize in fiction.

https://onthebl.org/2023/02/02/prevailing-impact-of-cishet-normativity-in-torrey...

#12Booksof2022 #May

I read four of the books on my #Top22of22 list in May. This challenging and thought provoking look at gender identity is the one that stands out most in my memory.

⭐️
Nah.

One of the best new novels I‘ve read. But one thing: there were moments when I felt nearly every character is a dickhead (jerk), and by the end I was outright laughing at how dumb they were being…. And I still kind of feel like they‘re jerks, though time has chilled me out on this view…I think it‘s pretty much undeniable.

Still though, that doesn‘t stop the book from being killer. And the characters‘ flaws make them human. (Mean though.)

I don‘t mean to be dramatic, but this is just the best book ever. If only they all could be this good.

Reese knows a lot of talented people—half the trans women in Brooklyn live in a state of perpetual pre-celebrity, awaiting a well-deserved recognition that will never come.

#manicMonday #LetterD @CBee
📚 Detransition, Baby
✍️ Cherie Dimaline
🍿 Death at a Funeral
🎤 Dean Lewis
🎶 Deliverance (Ry X)

“When you get a divorce everyone expects you to provide a story to justify it. Every woman I‘ve ever met who has had a divorce has a story to explain herself. But in real life the story and actual reasons for the divorce diverge. In reality, everything is more ambivalent. My own reasons are closer to a tone than a series of causes and effects. But when I talk about it, I know people want a cause and effect, a clear WHY.”

I cannot wait for our book group meeting to discuss this book. Themes of gender identity, motherhood, family… all circle around Reese, a trans woman, her ex-lover Amy- now Ames as he has detransitioned, and Ames‘a pregnant lover Katrina. It suffers from pacing issues, but will live in my brain for a long time.

Between a pick and a so so even though I didn‘t finish it. It was a bit too long for me. A great insight into trans life , what it means to be a parent. I volunteered many years ago on a queer counselling line. Part of training was meeting and talking with all sorts of people from the queer community. This book would have been good back then. We have come a long way but still a long way to go. 🌈🌈

maybe it‘s the covid brain, but i‘m not sure i loved this as much as everybody else did. would still recommend.

It‘s a good story about people that are more complicated than what I imagine most people are. Although, I‘m not sure I‘m imagining correctly. It‘s informative and gave me some different perspectives on things and I always enjoy any book that does that.

Just so incredibly good. Maybe the best book I‘ve read this year? We‘ll see.

#pridebookrec
T is for Trans
This is such a raw and heartfelt story. I don't read many books about motherhood but this one was excellent.
It is also the first book by a Trans author to be part of the Women's Prize for Fiction award.

Oh boy, what to say about this? From my very privileged position I feel totally unqualified to express an opinion about the issues it raises but I loved reading it & being given so many new things to think about in relation to gender identity, concepts of motherhood & the politics of queerness, both internal and external. Reese is such a vivid character she rather overshadowed the others but that is a small complaint.
#Doublespin

I usually avoid queer books because I often feel disappointed and isolated by how little they reflect queerness as I experience it BUT this book captured every gory detail I didn't think to ever share: every pain, every kink, every hope.

The question, for Reese: Were married men just desperately attractive to her?

#firstlinefridays

Interesting and full of drama. Definitely for a mature audience who can handle more than the standard sex scenes. It also touches upon a lot of transgender topics - maybe even too many. At times, I felt like the author was cramming in too much. I found myself agreeing with a lot, but also opposed some view points.

And there‘s parts I don‘t know how to feel about. I‘m looking forward to my book clubs discussion (as long as everyone is respectful)

I missed the book club discussion about this one and I really wish I hadn't because there is a lot to unpack! It is interesting, informative and all heart.

Photo taken from a hill across from the picnic house in Prospect Park.

This was a very intense read. One I didn‘t always look forward to reading but was gripped by once I picked it up. A story of love, friendship and motherhood amidst the trans community; it made me uncomfortable at times, but feeling uncomfortable reading about something that is not your own experience is no bad thing.

I can see why this has divided opinion, but I really enjoyed it! Some really fascinating insights…

This is a fascinating book. The characters are both likeable and at times infuriating. It gets very messy. A really well written exploration of gender, motherhood and life not turning out how you wanted or expected.

Penned by a trans author, the novel is thought provoking and complex. Reese, a trans woman, breaks up with her girlfriend Amy, another trans woman, who is now detransitioning to a cis-male under the new name Ames. Complicating the situation is Ames impregnating his lover Katrina which changes the dynamic of family, love, sex, and relationships for everyone.

I‘m not sure I can find the words to adequately describe how much I love this book and the effect it had on me. Parts of it made me laugh, parts of it made me cry, and parts of it made me question things I have been taught all my life about gender and relationships. I‘m glad I read this. In addition to being absorbed in and entertained by the story, I learned a lot. This novel is going to stay with me. Moving, thought provoking, outstanding!

The protagonist of this book, Reese, is one of those characters that I early on decided I would do anything for. I identified deeply and viscerally with Reese and her desire to be a mother, especially as I have recently become one. Peters' writing is brilliant: brutal honesty, keen insights, sharp jokes, nuanced characters, and thoughtful explorations of its themes of motherhood and trans community. This novel also has a perfect ending, IMHO.

I have done absolutely nothing today except stay in bed and read this entire book. Once I started, I couldn't stop.

Reese, Ames, and Katrina have taught me so much. My heart broke for each of them in different ways as they struggle with what being a woman, and what being a mother, means to them.

I'm thankful to authors like Torrey Peters who are brave enough to write books like this one.

"Heterosexual cis people, while willfully ignoring it, have staked their whole sexuality on a bet that each other's genders are real. If only cis heterosexuals would realize that, like trans women, the activity in which they are indulging is a big self-pleasuring lie" ???
#QueerBooks #LGBTQBooks #TransBooks