I hung out with my brother and his family last night. His two little boys are so cuuuuuute. Three and one years old. I've been around enough over the past year that they remember who I am. The older one eagerly asks "Where's Uncle Mitch!?" when I show up alone. But he doesn't resent me for showing up unaccompanied I don't think. He wants to show me all his cars and planes and tell me their names. He shouts at their Alexa to play various animal noises, but he's still got his heavy toddler accent, and she can't understand a word he says.
I finished another book yesterday. So I'm going to do my Book Log (BLog). I read this one for Roxane Gay's The Audacity bookclub.
**SPOILERS**
Peters, Torrey -- DETRANSITION, BABY
Published: 2021
Read: 02/2021
Reese really wants a baby. But as a transgender woman in her thirties this is proving difficult. She's sleeping with a married man (her "Cowboy") who's HIV positive, and they're role playing like giving her the virus is getting her pregnant. Reese's ex, Amy, was a woman for six years before they detransitioned back into a man and is now going by Ames. Ames thinks he is sterile from the hormones he took while he was a woman, but he gets his boss, Katrina, pregnant. Katrina had a miscarriage in her previous marriage and she coming to the end of her childbearing years. If she wants to have a baby at all, this might be it. Ames doesn't want to be a father, he wants to be a parent. He detransitioned out of fear and because of how much easier it is to be a man in society. But being a father is too much. He tells Katrina about his past as a transsexual, and she freaks out. Eventually, Ames brings Katrina around to agreeing to coparent with Reese. All three of them would be the baby's parents. Things are progressing with in a tentative, queer glow until Katrina finds out about the Cowboy. He's her friend's husband. Katrina needs stability and support to raise the baby, and Ames isn't sure he can give that to her. It's highly possible he will transition back into a woman. And Katrina doesn't know if she can rely on Reese. The book ends with the three of them in Katrina's apartment, hours before her abortion appointment, with Katrina trying to decide what to do.
I liked the book. I listened to about 6 hours of it on the drive from Los Angeles to Fort Collins. I think this is the first book I've read by about a trans woman or one by a trans woman. I've been thinking about that study I heard about. They were seeing if there was a link between reading fiction and empathy. Their results showed that there was not a link. I've been wondering what kinds of books their subjects were reading. Like if you only really build empathy by reading books about people who are different than you. It's been nice to feel transported to another person's life. Books like Luster, Americanah, Queenie, this book, Limmy, and Ramble Book have done that for me in the past year. I can sometimes get stressed and sad that I don't have time to live every life, work every profession, have every kind of sexual experience, eat everything, live everywhere. It's nice to find that reading can give me a glimpse into different lives. Why hadn't I noticed this earlier? I think it's partially because I've been reading more contemporary fiction/memoirs. Reading the classics of course shows you a window into different lives, but since they're historical lives, it doesn't give me the same sense of possibility. Contemporary fiction makes me think this could all happen now. That's exciting.
Rating: ★★★
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