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mochimustreads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Drug abuse
lovegriefandgender's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
eleanorcd's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Transphobia
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Dysphoria
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
peters incisively and grippingly examines motherhood, the trans experience, gender, identity politics, sex and sex work in this book, stripping layer upon layer of complexity thats enmeshed in a dash of political correctness, making her characters bare all, voicing taboos and things that are oft unspoken - representational politics be damned - to exhilarating effect. indeed, there were moments that simply stupefied me of how good this book is. and i learned a lot abt transness, this book having depicted in a humane sense many terms i merely know of but have never truly understood in depth.
meanwhile, the characters (and esp reese) are a hot mess - in a sense that theyre all each deep in a certain level of shit - specifically life shit - and trying to navigate thru a surprise pregnancy in different ways, each forced to face their own issues in the process. the ability to make readers empathize w/ characters who they sometimes also want to throttle is certainly a hallmark of a great writer, but peters, imo, goes above and beyond here. this esp pertains to ames/amy, whose story connects w/ me in a visceral way; we couldnt be more different, but her story deeply affects me in a way fiction rarely ever does, reading it was def sth else. it's indeed a lil baffling that her accidental outing plotline's suddenly dropped near the end: whatever happens after katrina's advice-seeking w/ reese and her friends? whats ames' reaction upon finding out the company supposedly knowing her secret?
and the book's last 15% and ending are less stellar than the rest, imo. the former feels awkward to me, like the author's trying to tie it all up but ends up veering into a slightly strange territory. i also wish we heard more from ames aside from that bit near the end. as for the ending, it does annoy me w/ how vague and slightly ~kumbaya~ it is, its tone a lil jarring w/ the book's irreverent tone.
even so, this is an undeniably thought-provoking, impactful, and even humorous novel, one that reads like a queer classic, and an amazing and welcoming addition to mainstream trans lit.
Graphic: Hate crime, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, Outing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Abortion
mayan03's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Pregnancy
shirtypantser's review against another edition
- 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
0.75
The premise is stupid (I don't say that lightly), the two trans characters are unlikeable and one is unredeemable. Racism, sexism both present on a regular basis in this. Author went pretty deep on fetishes but didn't quite pull off the point I think they were going for. I'm horrified this book is out there representing the trans fem community. This book gives the impression it was written by someone that doesn't actually like or much respect trans women.
Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Classism
lydiaie's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Alcohol
bookishnatalia's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt
moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Hate crime and Transphobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, and Abortion
Discussion of forced outingwhatjaimereads's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The discussions within this book around gender, fetishisation, and parenthood are handled fluidly, and sensitively, and are unique to any other queer fiction that I’ve read. Peters has written deeply realistic, multi-faceted characters that each offer their own insight into the struggles faced by marginalised communities. This novel is driven by its characters and discussions of their flaws, and it visibly benefits from the author’s Own Voice perspective as a queer woman.
However, this insight comes with the weight of knowledge that the reflections in Detransition, Baby are true-to-life. There is a huge amount of graphic, sensitive content, and some of the storytelling can become over-indulgent within these areas. Our cast of characters are all suffering from deep trauma in their past/present, which makes for some really heavy reading. By about chapter 9 I was completely emotionally exhausted, so I urge you to proceed with caution.
This is not the book that I was expecting from its synopsis, but it probes some really important topics, and for that reason it is undeniably an important read.
*ARC gifted by Serpents Tail in exchange for an honest review*
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, and Grief