Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

65 reviews

gdulecki's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Well, shit. This book left me feeling complicated. I can see why many people love it, it was very well written, it was raw and messy and I think it did a really good job of imagining queer possibilities. I also loved the surprise Rogers Park mention!! I think there’s some feelings coming up around immersing myself in a trans femme experience as a trans man, about my own relationship with womanhood and the ways it has evolved before and through my transition. There’s something to be said here about how I think this is the first book I’ve read with a trans woman mc and how that is a big gap in my reading. I’m glad we read this for book club because I don’t know if I would have read this myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

d00rframe's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I loved this book. the characters aren't perfect, and I love that. pregnancy is a topic I'm not usually a fan of, but I thought I would try something new and I'm glad I did. it's definitely a harder book to read due to all the sensitive topics, as well as just generally feeling like a like book to read, but it is so worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

stormeno's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Classism

Minor: Death, Drug use, Abortion, and Abandonment

camjones1's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Transphobia

Moderate: Drug use

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Lesbophobia

bratlingling's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Ein Buch, das für Viele herausfordernd zu lesen ist, aber auch bitter nötig. Die Themen sind messy, die Charaktere kompliziert und ich konnte es kaum aus der Hand legen. Noch nie habe ich so authentisch und verletzlich über trans Leben gelesen und dabei wurde mir schmerzlich bewusst, wie diese Perspektiven und Meinungen gesellschaftlich übersehen werden. Mich hat überrascht, wie oft und vielfältig das Thema Mutterschaft in dem Buch behandelt wurde. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Outing

Moderate: Drug use, Miscarriage, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicide

bmitch's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Suicide, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage, Blood, and Alcohol

obsessed with the drama of this! loved the description of ames detransition ~ all the confusion and emotions.

beesbutreal's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

sundayfever's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This was an incredible read. A book written for trans people, not to explain trans people to the world. Deeply flawed but loveable characters who make mistakes and hurt each other, but with an undercurrent of love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abortion

shortstackz's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

Parenthood looks and means something different to everyone, and Detransition, Baby dives into what that might look like to a cis woman, a trans woman, and a former trans woman. We take a dual viewpoint from Reese, a trans woman, and Ames, a former trans woman. Exploring how their experience of gender has shaped their views of parenthood. The dual timeline simultaneously covers the years across Reese and Amy's romantic relationship, and the weeks following Ames discovering he has gotten Katrina pregnant. I lov d that the story centered on the hopes and dreams of trans women without saying away from their struggles.

I am a cis woman, of white and Asian decent, which is the lens I was reading this through. Ames brought an interesting discussion of gender and gave me a better understanding of gender dysphoria and maybe the reasons someone would choose to live as their birth gender. The dual timeline of Reese and Ames brings so much light to the daily joys of trans life, which I think will help a lot of cis readers to grow alongside Katrina. I think this would have been strengthened from including vignets or interludes from Katrina's perspective, which could have shown how she was navigating her own journey through parental identity. Katrina makes choices. Those choices are, interesting? I have no idea how she jumps to them other than plot. 

The characters of Reese and Ames are so well developed that the lack of development in Katrina stands out as our main cast of 3. Peters prose is witty, funny, and easy to read. There are fun pop culture references thrown in throughout the pages, and I loved the nuanced gender conversations that occured. I wish Katrina's motivations were more clear to the reader, not front and center but in vignettes scattered throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting