Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Nevada

For a quick plot summary, Nevada is split into two parts, the first focusing on the “post transition” life of Maria who has been experiencing years of personal and professional inadequacies in her life in New York so embarks on a trip. The second mainly follow the “pre transition” narrative of confused stoner James in Star City, Nevada and the chance meeting with Maria. Other then that there is rather minimal plot, it’s for sure more about the characters and discussions on gender identity, sexuality and the role of women (misogyny, patriarchy and the like). These parts were my favourite I’d say, Binnie clearly has a lot of knowledge surrounding these topics and put a lot of it into her debut work. There is a lot said and I thoroughly enjoyed being educated in the experience of two trans people, with it being personal to each of them and not a generalised representation of ‘the trans experience’ but from reviews and the acclaim the book’s gotten it’s clearly resonated with many people and this is amazing. Whilst I did like Maria’s monologuing at the start it definitely become quite repetitive and a little unrealistic as the book went on. This is the same for quite a lot of what’s rehashed multiple times and I did find myself losing interest. I think it would have been better if more of what Binnie wanted to put forward was via ‘showing’ and not ‘telling’ with a focus on plot and character advancement, not the monologues.

From the paragraph above, I used the terms “post” and “pre transition” in quotation marks because this is how Binnie herself chose to describe the experiences in the 2022 afterword in the copy I read. This inclusion was a very interesting read and she listed lots of authors who write about the queer experience I’d also like to check out. In it, she says how she chose to create these characters at these specific stages to show how a trans person is trans throughout their journey and to disregard the “in between” stage. Other parts are discussed surrounding the path to getting Nevada published and reasonings for certain plot points.

Something I particularly disliked about Nevada was the excessive and continuous depictions of drug taking and the central role weed has in James’s life. I really don’t like reading about drug use/abuse and for me it was far too often mentioned. It also became more prevalent as the book went along which together with the rather unrealistic monologuing and my last point made me lose interest. I’d also say there’s a lot of unnecessary swearing. This final thing was Binnie’s use of the term ‘like’ which I found different at first and quite informal which allowed me to get to know the characters better. It then became a little annoying and as the book went on it’s use became so excessive - I counted one relatively small paragraph using it nine times - and therefore very very jarring. I just feel about 80% of the times it was used could’ve been omitted as it broke up the reading experience too much for me and whilst it may seem like something small, it was enough for me to personally knock off a half star from my rating.

I would still definitely recommend this book and it’s impact in the literary scene has done as lot for trans literature which is great. There is a lot to learn from Binnie with relatability and the discourse on the lives of transgender people. Overall I did enjoy it but as stated I have my issues too, it started out amazingly but did dwindle as I carried on reading.

Content Warnings

dustghosts's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective tense medium-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

3.25

I keep waffling on how I want to rate this book. It’s a work that feels deeply personal, deeply “of its time,” and like the debut work that it is. I think that “the discourse” (which I say sort-of ironically and in finger-quotes, and sort-of not) around trans issues has necessarily changed enormously since this was written and published— in some positive ways, yes, but also as right-wing groups create bogeyman out of trans people for talking points and cultural control.

All this to say: when I speak with my friends, these days, about whatever the online manufactured inter-community discourse of the day is, I often find myself saying something like, “I wish there was a way for this conversation to be happening, but just between trans people.” And all that to say: that’s what this book feels like to me, a book about and for and between trans people, a conversation that centers us and particularly trans women. It’s not that I wouldn’t want cis people to read it, and it’s not as though it wouldn’t be accessible to people who are not trans— but it’s for us. That’s its strength and its greatest charm, and I think that’s why I want to take its flaws with a grain of salt and a baseline of good will.

It’s not a perfect book, and not one where I feel I agree with everything that the narrators do or say or think— but hearing the author herself read it, you feel the willingness to be wrong, a self-deprecating awareness that to tell an individual trans persons story isn’t to endorse every aspect of it. There are beats that resonate down to the very core, and throughlines that feel eerily familiar, and flawed gold veins of selfishness that feel raw and real.

Our main characters are a little to sometimes a lot pathetic and very humanly flawed and variably likeable depending on the day. Our plot meanders and skids and gets knocked off track and never decides to get back on it. Our narration… feels very much like the 2012-2013, first-person forum writing— but I liked listening to it, and the wry sort-of-bashful-sort-of-cocky self awareness of it. There’s a lot of humor and heart here. There’s a lot of frustration, also. I don’t know that I would want to know most of these people; I felt dragged into the spotlight by some of the similarities I felt with them, too. The afterword was one of the best parts— I loved hearing what the author had to say about what the book is about, and her reflections on her own life in regards to the work, and her discussions about the act of crafting it, and what she chose to show and what to leave out.

Anyway, I didn’t love it the whole way through. Anyway, I couldn’t stop listening. Anyway, I love that it exists. As always, mind the content warnings— mine probably won’t cover it all just because I’ve been noodling around the book itself a little too much.

Content Warnings

falltumn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

standerson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

wireblight's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

synthcrone's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

mayan03's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

Content Warnings

boy_topics's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

I hated this book. The characters are intensely unlikeable, every single one of them. I was hoping that the second half would bring some kind of redemption but the ending makes no sense. I don't get it. 2 stars for being kind of on the nose with some trans stuff. I think a lot of trans girls might find parts of this book really relatable. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend it.

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