You've done it. You've transitioned! ... Now what?

Nevada deals pretty heavily with the intertia that comes from transitioning only to realize that while you've left the closet, you have no clue how to leave behind the habits it left you with. Many of the major complaints about this book - the navel-gazing, the aimlessness, the pointless ending - *are* the point. That's what it's like.

I'm not sure how many other reviewers here are trans, but AS a trans dude I will say that Maria rung very true to a period of my life I was just moving past when I encountered the book, down to claiming that she "barely" thinks about being trans while spending all her time navel gazing about transition and seething about Kenneth Zucker Ray Blanchard. Likewise, Maria reminds me of the trans women I met who ushered me into my own transition back in 2012, both in person and online. I don't know if this novella would ring as true for the new generation of trans people - I only entered the scene at the tail end of this era myself. But I think it's a brilliant portrait of a generation of trans people.

Oh no! My feminist literature books! 

Trans realism for the win. Reading the afterward and hearing how Imogen is now married with kids made me cry. And I love the call out/recommended other texts to read. 

Made me wish I was 25 in 2008.

As a straight cis gender female I found this book really interesting. A lot of books about the trans community focus on tragedy, which is important too, but this book focuses more on the experience of being trans. She has a lot of insightful commentary on gender woven through the novel as well. I didn’t love her writing style, as it’s more a flow of thoughts rather than a structured narrative, but it kind of adds to the charm. 

 Nevada popped onto my radar when I was searching for a book to mark #internationaltransgenderdayofvisibility (31 March). It was the road trip angle that appealed and although that was less of a feature than the blurb led me to believe I really enjoyed my time with the book. I enjoyed the contrast between Maria and James and where they were on with regards to their trans identities. Maria had a strong narrative voice which instantly captured my attention and although she was messy she was also really self-aware which I appreciated. The critique of capitalism was a bonus. 

I quite liked this one up until about halfway through or a bit before. I liked Maria and hearing about her life and her thoughts. And then it became a lot about her doing drugs and alcohol a lot and that was less interesting to me. Halfway through, there’s a new character introduced and Maria is left behind for a while, and I liked that even less. The ending left much to be desired. 

Unpopular opinion: I love the way Binnie writes dialogue without speech marks. The prose flows like a train of thought, and it's just so PUNK.
Maria is a bit unlikeable at first, but I really warmed to her. I think that's because she acknowledges her demons so candidly towards the end that it kind of made me feel sad, but also hopeful for her.
It was also super interesting to see the interaction between Maria and James. It's almost like Maria was visiting her younger self as a ghost of trans-ness future, and then you realise that in reality every person can only learn from their own journey.
Overall I enjoyed the book, and I didn't find it too challenging to pick up and put down every now and again. Having read Torrey Peters' De transition, Baby last year, I can see how influential this book has been. It just didn't completely blow me away enough for a higher rating.