Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

120 reviews

squishmallow161's review

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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maeverose's review against another edition

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Maybe I’ll revisit this someday?

It just wasn’t really what I was expecting. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. The main characters are very messy people who make questionable decisions, which on one hand is nice to see because it allows trans people to be messy and human just like everyone else without the expectation of perfect representation, but on the other hand, I don’t really care to read about Reese’s questionable sex life for a huge chunk of the book (well, the beginning at least). I feel like all I know about her is she’s trans, has terrible taste in men and little self worth. I also (as a childfree person) really didn’t like how the characters were going about the whole parenting thing. I stopped somewhere in the middle of chapter two, but the way Katrina was like ‘I’m only having the baby if I have a co parent’ made me feel like she didn’t actually want a baby and should probably just get the abortion. As well as Ames using the pregnancy seemingly just as an excuse to kind of get back together with Reese in a way. It bothers me so much seeing people become parents for stupid reasons, and the characters in this book were all way too messy to care for a child, and two of them didn’t even seem like they wanted to.

I have no objective issues with the book, it’s just not for me.

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japamela's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative tense 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

4.0


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cecilialau_'s review against another edition

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4.0

It’s been confirmed that long chapters work against my experience of a book… Unfortunately.  I found it hard at times to pick this book back up while also really wanting to love it. There are some cracking narrative parts in it for sure throughout. I did also find some parts of it a bit long. Maybe it was a case of “wrong time” for me with this one atm. I’m really glad I read it though.

It’s a story that’s insightful and definitely worth telling (and consuming) - as is anything outside the heteronormative btw. For ppl to learn and expand their horizons - even on the question on motherhood within and outside the lgbtq+ community.
I found the characters messy and flawed and unlikeable at time which worked really well to illustrate the (difficult) dynamic between the trio.
Spoiler It didn’t sit right with me that Iris kept using the she/her pronoun with Ames even though it might have been a subtle way for the author to say that misgendering doesn’t just happen outside the trans community, but if so I found it too subtle as it wasn’t pointed out and I just thought it was disrespectful and unnecessarily mean (even though Iris dislikes Ames).

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abbylw's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

While interesting, I really struggled to get into this book. In part, I think it was the way it was written — the back and forth between characters and time periods made the book feel choppy and disconnected. The entire time I was reading, I never fell into the story. It just felt like I was reading — not experiencing it. The insights about being trans were the highlight for me. I felt deep sorrow for the characters who wanted so deeply to be themselves in ways society or biology would not allow. 

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cmcrockford's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


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m1923's review

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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alixcallender's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

To me, the point of this book is not to proselytize or morally educate, but rather to present opinions and feelings and experiences that are messy and different from your own. This is an honest reflection of what it is to be a person, flawed and singular and wonderful. 

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sofipitch's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

4.5

The book was really good, I adored the writing style. Any writing style that sounds like a person talking to me is deeply addictive, even more if the narrator is funny. The characters also felt like real people, and the decisions they made were not always the best, but that is what I enjoyed. I think they only thing I didn't quite believe is their relationship to each other, especially Katrina. I didn't see what Ames or Reese saw in her beyond her obvious role in the story. I liked a lot of the flashbacks and other musings more than I did the plot the book was named after (but this is also likely personal bc pregnancy is a bit squicky to me). I feel like I could read a book of Reese ordering take out and doing her laundry though 

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