Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Nevada

I'm really not sure about this book and think I need further time to process it. The first half of the book was solely based on Maria's story and then the second half we are introduced to James' character who Marie then sets out to try and help by embarking on a road trip. Whilst this book at the heart was based on what it felt like to be a trans women in today's society I felt like I wanted more story to it. I get the abrupt ending as it felt as though James was still not ready to come to turns with who he really is. It felt like a lot of the story was based around drugs and sex which detracted from the main conversation of the book.

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lamentedinica's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad fast-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

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pobi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

4.25

The kind of book you'd study at school, except not highschool cause they don't let u read this much about drugs and sex etc usually. I can see why it's a cult classic.

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imrereads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

5.0

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camill3's review

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

so weird, but so interesting. made me realize some personal stuff, so that's great. lots of drug stuff tho.

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finesilkflower's review against another edition

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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

An unusually structured two-part book. In the first part, a trans woman named Maria wanders around New York City on her bicycle, gradually accepting that her relationship, job, and time in New York are coming to a close, and musing about the condition of being trans in a way that is relatable/entertaining/validating for a trans reader (and probably educational for a cis reader, though that hardly seems to be the point; this is not a book that hand-holds, it's a book that expects you to keep up). This first section is a bit slow, although it contains some of the best imagery and philosophizing. In the second part, which takes place in Nevada, Maria meets an aimless cashier named James who reminds her of her younger self. I found the Nevada section more interesting and thought-provoking; it speaks to the trans desire to "go back in time" and convince our younger selves to realize we're trans sooner, but it also goes about as well as that probably would.

Reading this ten years after it was written, I was surprised by how modern and up-to-date it felt - trans women truly are on the vanguard of culture - and also how timeless. Although I no longer enjoy Catcher in the Rye, this book reminded me of what I loved about that book the first time I read it at age 16: it's written in a casual, chatty style, it's packed with highly specific detail, it is mostly about someone wandering around in New York, it is messy and angsty and difficult to pin down. But it's more deserving of being taught in schools.

Random Observations:

- One thing I loved but didn't note until Binnie noted it in the afterword of the 10th anniversary edition: this book is pointedly NOT about transition. It sketches, compares, and contrasts the condition of being post-transition vs pre-transition, but it doesn't cover the transition period itself. I love that because it resists cis expectations and demands, and in so doing gets to much more interesting truths than cis people can dream of.

- Also noted by Binnie, apologetically, in the afterword: the book contains some unkind swipes at trans men.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny 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

5.0

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