1st May 2022
Book Review: Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
I couldn’t wait for the Australian paperback release date of this highly anticipated 2021 baby, so I read it as soon as humanly possible on my trusty mini instead.
A wonderfully complex novel that at times felt closer to a memoir. While this book follows a narrative story line, it reads more like an in-depth character study of its two and a half leads as Peters explores motherhood, parenting, femininity and masculinity, all through the eyes of her queer characters. This book took us deep, deep into the lives of Reese, a trans woman, her ex, Ames, who has detransitioned, and Katrina, the woman that Ames has unexpectedly gotten pregnant. If that sounds messy, it is - in the best possible way. I loved how much I learnt from this book, and how much it made me consider things that I’d not given much thought to in the past. Peters’s insights into love, sex and gender are illuminating, witty and daring. While at times I found the writing a little dense and wanted the story to move forwards, I was intrigued by every aside we were taken down.
The title is genius and I love this quote from Peters, from her interview with Vulture:
“The comma is a knife’s edge. If you could just find your way to having a baby and finding motherhood, you would be legitimate, or if you could just figure out how to live as a man and detransition, you’d be okay,” she said. “The hard part is you’re stuck. That was the split in my psyche for a long time.”