Detransition, Baby

By Torrey Peters,

Book cover of Detransition, Baby

Book description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ā€¢ The lives of three womenā€”transgender and cisgenderā€”collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires in ā€œone of the most celebrated novels of the yearā€ (Time)

ā€œReading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand.ā€ā€”Vulture

Named one of the Best Booksā€¦

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Detransition, Baby as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Like a hipster Brooklyn transgender Sex and the City, this novel is a chatty, hilarious, and moving look at queer folks grasping for parenthood and family in a world where all the rules have been thrown out.

The bookā€™s narrator, transwoman Reese, takes us on this ride with such sardonic, poignant insight about the world she lives in that we begin to feel like we live in it, too. When Reeseā€™s ex, Amesā€”who has detransitioned from his former transwoman identity, Amyā€”gets his straight female boss pregnant, the three of them begin negotiating how they might raise the child together.ā€¦

Reese, a transgender woman, has been in a tailspin since her girlfriend Amy detransitioned to become Ames and their relationship ended.

Now the thing she wants mostā€”a childā€”is getting further and further out of her reach. Meanwhile, Amesā€™s lover, Katrina, gets pregnant. Ames canā€™t commit, either to Katrina or to life as a father, because it would feel untrue to his gender identity, and Katrina doesnā€™t want to keep the baby without a partner.

Seeing a chance to revive his connection with Reese and to live in a way that feels more authentic, Ames proposes the three of them becomeā€¦

From Jennifer's list on queer people on the edge.

I loved reading this contemporary novel which is hilarious, astute, smart (you can see why it was nominated for so many book Prizes!) Written by a trans author, with central trans characters, it skips over any ā€œexplainingā€ about trans lives and eschews the sterotypes, making for complex and nuanced protagonists who feel 100% real. Itā€™s a book about queer family making, and what that can look like. It feels right up to the minute in terms of the new formulations of family that are existing today. 

From Amelia's list on queer stories to expand your thinking.

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Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

You wonā€™t get the Good Tran Narrative hereā€”Torrey Petersā€™ bestseller teases out a gloriously complex and problematic relationship between a fatalistic trans woman, her detransitioned ex-girlfriend, and the woman he just got pregnant. Full of drama, wisdom, taboo, and truth, I adore Detransition, Baby for its spotlight on unadulterated queer and/or trans characters full of gallows humor and heart.

If you love Detransition, Baby...

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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

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