Title- Detransition, Baby
Author- Torrey Peters
Series- N/A
Published- 2021
Page Count- 340 pages
Publishing House- Serpent's Tail
Genre- feminist, LGBTQIA+, contemporary
Rating- 3.5/5 stars
About the Author
Torrey Peters is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, published by One World/Random House, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is also the authors of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. Torrey rides a pink motorcycle and splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.
Taken from Torrey's website.
Plot
A whipsmart debut about three women—transgender and cisgender—whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex.
Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?
This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
I borrowed this from my local library after stumbling across a copy while looking for something else. I had wanted to read this after seeing it was nominated for the Women's Fiction Prize, which some people challenged as Torrey is a trans author. Having read it, I can say that I believe it deserved to be nominated as it tackled important issues for women and was written by a woman. I felt that this had a strong start, I was immediately hooked in and wanted to find out what happened next.
The premise was very strong. The discussions around what it is to be a mother or a parent in the modern age was interesting. I liked that we had three very different perspectives on womanhood from three people who experienced it differently. I felt that bouncing between Ames and Reese's perspectives helped with what the other was saying. I would have liked a bit more insight into Katrina's perspective as it wasn't always easy to connect or sympathise with her. We got to see what Ames and Reese were thinking, where as we didn't with Katrina. I think it would have added something to the story.
I loved the three main characters. They felt so real, raw and chaotic. Reese in particular, with some of the decisions she made, felt like someone you will probably meet at some point in your life. Her emotions and life were always all over the place. Even though we are told she had everything, we got to see that she didn't and that she was just human. I think I enjoyed reading from Ames/Amy the most. He felt grounded in reality, with all the different stages in his life. His journey from when he transitioned to Amy and then back to Ames was an interesting one. I personally like reading about flawed characters with engaging backstories and I certainly got this with this book.
I didn't like the ending. I found it too rushed and it wasn't quite what I wanted from this book. We've spent all this time reading about these people becoming ready to be parents, only for it not to happen. I would have loved to see them form a queer family and raise this child. We spent so much time reading about them wanting to be parents, all those decisions and then Katrina's choice to have an abortion, kinda came out of nowhere. I felt let down by the ending, as otherwise I would have given this 4 stars.
A small qualm I had with this book was that I found the chapters too long. I would have preferred shorter chapters, especially as they were covering quite large amounts of time. I'm someone who likes to read to the end of the chapter and then finish my reading sessions, but the longer chapters in this made it difficult. This is a personal preference, but did impact my reading experience.
What did you think of Detransition, Baby??
