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A review by faerietrails
Nevada by Imogen Binnie
4.5
Immediately after finishing Nevada, I felt a little cheated by the synopsis. It's not inaccurate, all of those things happen, but it's done in a way more mundane than expected. Defying those expectations is this novel's greatest strength, the author adding in the afterword that she wanted to write something "real". Sometimes, real queer stories are saddled with grief and isolation and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Sometimes, real queer stories are people defying oppression, finding community, and coming out empowered and proud.
And sometimes it's an impulsive, but self-aware trans woman, going about her life. We are privy to frequent streams of thought by Maria, a chronic overthinker, which reflect the hyper-vigilance that comes with being visibly queer. It doesn't come off as preachy to me; a lot of my unrelated thoughts turn to capitalism and gender roles too. Many of Maria's thoughts and tendencies were very relatable to me, including specific, nuanced things. Feeling more enlightened on queerness because you've been out for a while. Suddenly becoming hyper-aware of your identity in a social setting. Putting off your hormone injection because you don't like needles very much and keep forgetting, but you're several days late and aware it's putting your emotions out of whack, but you still keep putting it off, which makes you more guilty...etc.
Being so grounded is what makes Nevada so brilliant. It's insight into the "transgender experience", without fanfare or melodrama. There's space for stories with all of that, but we don't often get to be average. There's a bit by trans comedian Robin Tran: "One thing I do not like about being transgender is that people expect me to be some kind of hero. I do not wanna be a hero. I don't wanna be "brave" or any of that shit. I just wanna be a shitty transgender person."
The dialogue doesn't have quotation marks, which works with the storytelling, but took some getting used to. Also, I'm still a little bit mad that I was going into the book expecting something much different, but that's a personal thing.
And sometimes it's an impulsive, but self-aware trans woman, going about her life. We are privy to frequent streams of thought by Maria, a chronic overthinker, which reflect the hyper-vigilance that comes with being visibly queer. It doesn't come off as preachy to me; a lot of my unrelated thoughts turn to capitalism and gender roles too. Many of Maria's thoughts and tendencies were very relatable to me, including specific, nuanced things. Feeling more enlightened on queerness because you've been out for a while. Suddenly becoming hyper-aware of your identity in a social setting. Putting off your hormone injection because you don't like needles very much and keep forgetting, but you're several days late and aware it's putting your emotions out of whack, but you still keep putting it off, which makes you more guilty...etc.
Being so grounded is what makes Nevada so brilliant. It's insight into the "transgender experience", without fanfare or melodrama. There's space for stories with all of that, but we don't often get to be average. There's a bit by trans comedian Robin Tran: "One thing I do not like about being transgender is that people expect me to be some kind of hero. I do not wanna be a hero. I don't wanna be "brave" or any of that shit. I just wanna be a shitty transgender person."
The dialogue doesn't have quotation marks, which works with the storytelling, but took some getting used to. Also, I'm still a little bit mad that I was going into the book expecting something much different, but that's a personal thing.