Detransition, Baby: A Novel

Both loved and struggled with this one. What I enjoyed: intriguing, layered characters, some snappy prose and pointed observations of several NYC social scenes, very frank (why is this so unusual?) discussion of sex, exploration of so many themes - what it means to be a mother, a woman, class themes, the nature of desire, and of course what it’s like to exist as a trans woman today. What I struggled with: the premise (and therefore most of the plot). Ames to me was less developed among the main characters and I never felt like his need to have Reese as a co-parent was fully fleshed out. It felt to me like a forced device to bring these three characters together. And then because this novel is ambitious, and I’d venture in part because trans voices are so underrepresented, this novel had a lot of telling rather than showing. Portions were slow for me to get through, weighted by the explication. Ultimately really glad to have read this - and we had a fantastic discussion at my book club. As a half-Asian woman in business myself I was pleasantly surprised to see myself represented in Katrina, so I can only imagine how important this is as a small step towards trans representation (albeit within a specific subset)

4.5/5 stars rounded up.

I cannot stop raving about this book. Right off the bat, this book captures you with its gorgeous and colorful book cover and of course the title. These characters grow on you– they are funny, sexy, smart, and beautifully and honestly messy. At the heart of this story, you have the human desire to be accepted and seen in the world as you are; this is told through the complexity of gender identity, including the decision to transition or detransition, the complexity of racial identity for children of miscegenation, and the fears and joys of motherhood/parenthood. The author does this with care for these subjects and the characters experiencing them.

Full review can be found on my blog here.

mind alteringly good

appreciated the opportunity to read a book by an openly trans author and learn from their perspective but this book did drag on in some areas with a bit of an unsatisfying ending

I was really happy to immerse myself in a queer story, however I found some of the sequencing clunky and the end dissatisfying. I do appreciate a lot of the detailed storytelling.