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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. Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men. 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.
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A queer must-read! Absolutely beautiful, raw and witty writing.
02.75 stars
I have... complicated feelings about this book. I'm not going to give it a star rating in the actual star mechanism because I don't want to lower the rating of a book that I think is very important in terms of bringing issues of transphobia, homophobia, intersectionality, etc. to light. I think the way these topics were discussed was often very compelling, and that was what felt likable about this book to me.
However, the crude, graphic sexual descriptions felt heavy-handed and it's usually something that makes me tend to not like a book (so it's really a personal preference). This also somewhat contributed to the dislike I had for pretty much all of the characters. They felt generally annoying to me, which made it very difficult to connect with the story.
The novel is divided into sections of "x time before" and "x time after" conception. It was a tad confusing at times to jump back and forth, but ultimately I think the stronger sections that I enjoyed were the ones after conception. These sections were where the most discourse about motherhood and the premise of the book that I found truly interesting -- the relationship between the 3 individuals working out motherhood/fatherhood/family. The narrative surrounding what makes someone a mother and how Reese's feelings were implicated by the fact that she wasn't carrying the baby physically was the most compelling part.
Ultimately, though, I think the book brings up a lot of important, unique topics in literature, so if you don't mind the language, I think this book may be worth a read!
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