Detransition, Baby

A Novel

By: Torrey Peters

Narrated by: Renata Friedman

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The lives of three women—transgender and cisgender—collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires in “one of the most celebrated novels of the year” (Time)

“Reading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand.”—Vulture

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by more than twenty publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Time, Vogue, Esquire, Vulture, and Autostraddle

PEN/Hemingway Award Winner • Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Gotham Book Prize • Longlisted for The Women’s Prize • Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick • New York Times Editors’ Choice

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.

©2021 Torrey Peters (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Detransition, Baby is so good I want to scream.” (Carmen Maria Machado)

“This book is exhilaratingly good.” (Jia Tolentino)

“An unforgettable portrait of three women, trans and cis, who wrestle with questions of motherhood and family making. ... Detransition, Baby might destroy your book club, but in a good way.” (Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl)

No!!!

this was good, even great at times.
When I got to the end I literally screamed no.
l wanted to know how the story ended.
Felt robbed.
How dare they take us into the heads and hearts of these characters then leave us to wonder.

crushingly, heartbreakingly beautiful

it's a story about motherhood, about womanhood, about trans womanhood, about me. Truly incredible art

Interesting

Ames, who has destransitioned from life as a trans woman named Amy, accidently gets his girlfriend Katrina pregnant. Ames believed that he would never father children because of the hormones he took while living as Amy. For some reason Ames comes up with the idea that he and Katrina should raise their baby with Amy's ex-girlfriend Reece who is also a trans woman. If any of this description sounds confusing that's because it is. At least, at first. It took me a little bit to figure out who was who and who became who and when. However, I did appreciate the trans perspective and hearing a story from a trans voice.

inlighting

As someone not of the generation I learn that the story is still being told in variations of times and situations. life isn't always complicated.

Totally a Waste of Time

Unbelievable concept. This story left out too much of what was needed to pull off belief of storyline and not enough imagination in the right places. Waste of credits.

Pulls no punches

If you’re a trans feminine person, you should be warned, the book is fantastic precisely because it so honestly and rawly captures so much of the trans experience. It was certainly triggering at points, a bit like having my skin flayed off with a knife made of all my deepest fears and insecurities, but it’s also provided a deep sense of trans history, community and shared experiences. 10/10 but proceed with caution.

Interesting exploration of gender, clunky construction

What most captivated me about this book was its exploration of gender identity, ultimately making me wonder about what it means to be a woman. I have read about the constraints of heteronormativity, but exploring it through these characters made it clearer to me. Unfortunately, the plot lost me at times, perhaps due to the flat narration. When my mind wanders, when I’m not fully engrossed, I tend to think the pacing is off. The digressions into the past weren’t always necessary, though they revealed more about the characters. And I’m not the sort of person that requires full closure all the time, but the ending is too abrupt.

Too much

I found the sex details took away from a good story. Lost interest quickly, then went back to continue and found it boring.

I loved this book

An amazing and authentic portrayal of a queer and trans experience. A compelling story and characters. An excellent narration. Loved this book!

A good book that gets you thinking

I loved this book. It gave me perspective on some things I’d not considered before and had me thinking about my own womanhood and what it means. It was a beautiful story, I enjoyed every minute of it, even the hard parts.

My one note on the narration is that it was occasionally confusing when Reece and Katrina (spelling?) were talking to each other because their character voices were very similar, but it only really stood out to me in one scene.