Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Detransition, Baby

A book written about trans characters and by a trans author becoming a bestseller is a huge achievement on its own. The writing is, however, uneven though entertaining and promising.

"Detransition" has great pacing and an interesting premise based on some taboo topics, (detransitioning, entering into a hetero-passing relationship, etc.). I found myself re-reading the chapters focused on Ames and Reese's reflections on past relationships and coming out. Peters' writing shines in those parts with sincerity and a kind of painful, bittersweet memorializing of past selves. It touched me deeply.

Reese is my favorite and the most captivating of all the characters in the book. She's hurt, self-destructive, full of yearning, but also smart, thoughtful when she wants to be, observant, very funny, and full of emotional depth that the other two in the trio seem not able to access. Out of all the characters in the book she seems the most brave.

Conversely, the weakest of the trio and plot is Katrina. She is the least developed and least convincing character. Frankly, she's annoying. Peters writes her trans characters so vividly, but I think having a straight, cis, and Asian character was too far from her own experience to write to the same level of depth. It was hard for me to understand why Ames was so attracted to her and why he was so committed to a relationship with her.

In the reviews I've read, I've heard criticism of Peters' writing, specifically that the sentences are convoluted, awkward. I have a feeling she writes very close to her own speaking voice. If you share this criticism, the audiobook might be a better experience by restoring Peters' speaking cadence.

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moonpeach's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective slow-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? Yes

3.0

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anthsoprano's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

honestly torrey peters' writing is so funny and captivating and brutally real. written by a trans woman for trans women, but also as someone under the trans umbrella, if i had tried to read this a year ago i'd throw it down the stairs with how real it hits.

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lanid's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

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

3.75

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cecilialau_'s review against another edition

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3.75

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 absorbing) - as is anything outside the heteronormative btw. For ppl to learn and expand their horizons - including 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.

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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michaelgfrd's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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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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leahslitlibrary's review against another edition

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Ames did not detransition because of violence, but because that violence lead him to believe he was only “dressing up” as a woman, and that felt very transphobic. This was really disappointing because I felt the book had so much going for it in the beginning.

Overall, I would give this book 2 stars, I enjoyed most of the book and it is very well written, but the ending was very ignorant and changed my opinion on this book as a whole.

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