It’s come to my attention that my using the same pile of books as the image for all my 20 Books of Summer challenge books (hosted by Cathy from 746 Books) might be a bit confusing, so here’s an image of the actual book this time! I’m reading 20 books bought from our local independent bookshop, The Heath Bookshop (find them on their bookshop.org page!). You can see the book lists and results from all my previous attempts here. I bought this one when it came to my attention as I think their first book group read (even though I didn’t intend to go to their book group) and it fell into my second book token haul – I note I have read the book I collected when I bought it, “How Green was My Valley”. I promoted this novel up the pile to read this month to fit into Pride Month.
Imogen Binnie – “Nevada”
(18 January 2023, second book token splurge at the Bookshop)
It’s always impossible to tell what anyone’s assumptions are. People tend to assume that trans women are either drag queens and loads of trashy fun, or else sad, pathetic and deluded pervy straight men – at least, until they save up their money and get their Sex Change Operations, at which point they become just like every other woman. Or something? But Maria is like, dude, hi. Nobody ever reads me as trans any more. Old straight men hit on me when I’m at work and in all these years of transitioning I haven’t even been able to save up for a decent pair of boots. (p. 6)
Of course I knew I was going to like this book because I generally choose carefully and well, but I LOVED it. Although weirdly, it was written in 2008 onwards and first published in 2013, but it really read like something I’d have eagerly read in the mid-to-late 1990s when I was reading loads of diverse stuff from Lewisham Library – it would have fitted right in then. I think it’s the punky, DIY vibe of the characters and their situations – and of course, being fairly timeless (apart from having mobile phones) it’s able to be the classic that it is. It also reminded me of Larry McMurtry, obviously a very different author in a different time, but the absolutely believable in every detail, reportage style of the book, inside the main character’s (and other characters’) head, the grungy American setting, the road trip, the small town, they all remind me of that favourite author of mine.
So Maria is a young trans woman who works in a crappy bookshop in New York and whose relationship with Steph is failing. She would carry on forever, being chaotic, forgetting to take her oestrogen injections on time, messing around with her co-worker and repeatedly walking out of the bookshop to get a bagel, but there’s more than that, the ever-present mental, physical and emotional work of being trans, the fact she dissociates whenever something really difficult comes up. And all of this coincides in a perfect storm when she loses her relationship – thus her home – and her job and goes on a road trip in a “borrowed” car, only to encounter a young lad, James, an unhappy stoner who works in a Wal-Mart in a small town in Nevada, and sees her old self in him. Will she bring him along a path to enlightenment? The ending – which is perfect – suggests not, but who knows what Maria and James have learned in the process?
What is really striking about this book is the visceral, detailed, reportage-style narrative of what it is like to live in a trans body (see the quote above, for example). This aspect is funny, savage and heart-rending. It’s also very much universal and applicable now – worrying about transphobic women and their banning of trans women from their spaces, considering male privilege, pushing against the narrative of people feeling they were trans from small childhood which is basically what the medical establishment need everyone to subscribe to in order to access health care (I learned about this in “Trans Britain“, a much later book).
Funny, sad and so absorbing I couldn’t put it down – this is one of those books I wish I’d read earlier so I could be re-reading it now.
This was Book 7 in my 20 Books of Summer challenge and Book 4 for Pride Month. You can buy a copy from The Heath Bookshop’s page on bookshop.org,
rosemarykaye
Jun 23, 2023 @ 08:28:56
I also loved this book (which by some miracle appeared in my local library). Have you read Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl? It’s another of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2023 @ 10:36:50
Oh, that’s brilliant your local library got it in. It’s amazing, isn’t it. Paul … does look enticing, thank you for the recommendation and I’ve added it to my wishlist.
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mallikabooks15
Jun 23, 2023 @ 09:22:21
I’m glad to see this breaks some stereotypes and seems fun but also poignant.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2023 @ 10:37:20
Yes, that’s exactly what it does and it, and such a great narrative voice.
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A Life in Books
Jun 23, 2023 @ 09:56:13
So interesting that this was mostly written in 2008 then published in 2013. Makes me wonder if there’s an autobiographical element to it.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2023 @ 10:38:25
Yes, the Afterword to the new edition makes it clear it’s at least autobiographical in terms of the character’s life as a trans woman and some of the people she encounters. It still reads 1990s to me, but I don’t suppose the early 2000s were that different.
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MarketGardenReader/IntegratedExpat
Jun 24, 2023 @ 08:45:39
That’s a great quote. I’ve never understood the hysteria about trans women in women’s toilets, which all have doors on cubicles. It makes more sense if your fear and prejudice is built on an assumption that trans women might be “pervy straight men”. This sounds interesting, particularly as it’s set before the ramping up of the hostility by social media. But also before it was possible for young people to have puberty blockers to start transition early. I’m not sure most post-puberty trans women ever entirely faded into the background before that.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2023 @ 17:25:45
I read a really good article the other day that made the point that women don’t need to fear trans women, they need to fear men. And some men will use any means to access women, but they aren’t trans women. A good point. I can’t remember when puberty blockers came in, but yes; having said that, I’m reading a very interesting book by a trans person at the moment who is non-binary and not trying to “pass”. However, the whole narrative around the medical profession has always been you have to try to “pass” as one gender or the other before you’re given access to health care, and then continue to do so, which is so cruel and reductive. Anyway lots to think about in this one and very well put.
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Jun 24, 2023 @ 13:47:13
Sounds brilliant Liz, and actually amazing that something so relevant was written back in 2008!!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2023 @ 17:26:20
Yes, and I can’t work out why I didn’t notice it in 2013 but I’m very glad it’s been republished and the bookshop promoted it!
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Laura
Jun 25, 2023 @ 08:13:33
This sounds great! Have you read Detransition, Baby? I’m wondering how it compares.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 25, 2023 @ 08:56:30
I haven’t, but I do own it and will try to get to it soon to compare. I think you’d like this one. Interestingly, I’ve just read Travis Alabanza’s “None of the Above” which is a memoir of Black trans non-binary life and found many echoes of this book in that one – so much so that I can use them as a pairing during Non-Fiction November!
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heavenali
Jun 25, 2023 @ 20:00:18
Oh dear I feel I am responsible for the photo thing, and I’m sure it was just me getting confused. This does sound really good, I can see why you enjoyed it. Love the sound of the bookshop and the road trip.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 26, 2023 @ 09:53:06
No, it’s fine, it was looking a bit boring on the blog, too! And it was great, always good to have a bookshop featured and there was quite a lot of it as it took a while for the road trip bit to start!
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bookbii
Jun 29, 2023 @ 13:14:32
I have spied this book in my library’s audiobook catalogue and pinned it as something I’d like to listen to. Glad to hear it measures up to its potential, sounds like a great read which puts a (sadly necessary) humanising face on trans lives. Definitely one I will borrow once it’s next available.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 30, 2023 @ 15:48:22
Oh, I am glad. And yes, it’s really really fresh and relevant today.
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Rebecca Foster
Jul 03, 2023 @ 18:07:33
To my amazement, my library system has a copy. I will have to seek it out!
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Liz Dexter
Jul 04, 2023 @ 09:11:56
It must have good reps/PR as other people have also found it in their libraries. Hope you get hold of a copy and enjoy it!
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Nonfiction November Week 3 Book Pairings
Nov 13, 2023 @ 08:00:43