Detransition, Baby by Torres Peters

If you are under 35 you probably will learn less from this than if you are over 50 years old. This is front and center a book that has the back story about what it is to be trans in America right here and now, how much more complex the options and the possibilities are, and if the literature is correct, about 1/5th of us face these uncertainties about gender and gender roles. The front story is that this book is about the desire to be a mother. It tells the story of three characters — Ames, Reese, and Katrina — who are in the process of deciding whether or not to raise a child together. Katrina has just learned that she is pregnant. Ames is game for co-parenting, but he wants Reese, his trans woman ex, to be involved in co-parenting. Not surprisingly, Katrina is a bit dubious. Much of the action of the novel takes place in the intervals opened up by Katrina’s requests for some space to think. In these intervals, we get to know Reese and Ames better, and see a lot of the choices they made prior to Katrina being on the scene. This was eye opening for me in a good way.