Cover Image: Nevada

Nevada

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The first impact was the grammatical styling of Imogen Binnie. It confounded me at first to be reading a third-person point of view with a first person voice. I have never read this style before and it took a little bit of adjusting.

I don’t think I have ever read a book where I spent so much time in someone’s thoughts - I don’t think I sit with my own thoughts this much. (chuckle) Listening to Maria and being privy to her thoughts made me wonder just how off I am in my thinking. Do I sit in a never-ending rollercoaster of emotion; though I have never been in a gender dysphoria and had to battle through the war of trying to live that particular truth. Just as coming out can be a daily battle, Maria shows that just living her truth is a daily battle. I don’t think anyone, but another transgender person can truly understand this war.

Binnie then takes us on a road trip where Maria meets someone at the very beginning of their journey where they are still deciding whether they even want to get on the road or not. Maria cannot imagine not getting on that road and it makes the conversations between James and Maria interesting. It is not just whether to move ahead, but how Maria’s journey has affected every other area of her life.

I will warn you that there is no “happy-ending” in Nevada. There are no answers. The conversation just ends. Some relationships are like that - especially on road trips. You meet people and some have an impact and others are like just passing the salt. In this case, Maria and James gives you glimpses into two lives in our rainbow world and I, for one, am better for having read about them.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily

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Wonderfully messy, beautifully realized, an absolute queer delight of a story.

Some highlights: road trip! Two well-developed POV characters! Bicycles! Utterly relatable retail jobs! Gay drama! (Also, the afterword section was excellent, and really added to my appreciation of the book; don't skip it.)

I initially felt sort of bad when I was, before writing this review, thinking that this book would absolutely appeal to anyone who liked Torrey Peters' "Detransition, Baby," until I read that Torey Peters actually has said that this book influenced her own writing – which I can absolutely see. It's not just the trans woman protagonist that the books have in common – their biggest point of commonality, in my opinion, was actually the wonderfully complex, flawed characters. who are almost painfully real and human in their decision-making and character arcs. That said: if you liked Detransition, Baby, you should *absolutely* read this.

I did feel like the two short chapters which adopted the POV of each major protagonists' girlfriend were – interesting, but not totally necessary, and because they were so brief, felt a little jarring to me. Additionally, the pacing felt a little bit rushed and unbalanced; I don't necessarily think that's out of line with what this book *is*, but it wasn't quite what I expected going in, based on the summary.

All in all, though, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this one, and I would love to see more writing from Imogen Binnie in the future. My enormous thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

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“But still, Maria is like, I’m supposed to have some kind of insight? Here is my insight: gender is stupid and annoying and I don’t want to talk about it any more ever.”

NEVADA is a brilliant, darkly funny story about being trans, self-knowledge, and relationships, with a side of good old-fashioned American road trip. Since it was first published almost ten years ago, this novel has been hailed as a pivotal moment in modern trans literature, and I can see why. The plot is minimal, in the best way: Maria, a trans woman in her late twenties in NYC spends her days working at a bookshop, blogging, biking around town, and drinking a bit too much. After she breaks up with her girlfriend and gets fired, she decides to take a road trip to the west coast to figure her shit out. In Star City, Nevada, a small town that is basically a Wal-Mart and nothing else, James is struggling to figure out what his desire to dress as and perhaps become a woman mean about him. They meet at random, immediately read each other as trans, and Maria decides that part of her own healing might be becoming a trans role model for James.

Maria is one of my new favorite protagonists. She’s a disaster, self-aware enough to know it and to even know what she might start doing about it, but has mostly just been coasting (or more generously, surviving) so far. I loved her wannabe punk energy that is simultaneously earnest and already jaded. James is compelling too, struggling to figure out what his secret wants mean about him but mostly just getting high all the time. It’s an inwardly-focused story, mostly internal monologues from both of the characters, which just completely works with Binnie’s smart, flippant style; she describes really nuanced emotions and experiences so clearly, without pretension. I really liked Maria and James’ interactions, the magnetism and opposition, the clash between Maria’s trans wisdom and James’ fear of what her revelations might do to his life. Also, the parallels in their relationships are so striking, the ways that suppressing themselves has made it hard for them to be present and truly connect with their partners. The terrifying reality of vulnerability, of being known, was entirely too relatable. The second half did feel short to me, but reading the author’s afterword helped me understand the abrupt ending. This novel was originally drafted in 2008 and published in 2013 and captures a very particular era of queerness and early internet and more; it was a treasure to read it and the author’s description of the context it came from. Also, the audiobook is read by the author and it’s fantastic.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux & Macmillan Audio for the review copies! This new edition is out 6/7.

One more quote for the road: “Eventually you can’t help but figure out that, while gender is a construct, so is a traffic light, and if you ignore either of them, you get hit by cars. Which, also, are constructs.”

Content warnings: gender dysphoria, transphobia, deadnaming, suicidal ideation

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The narrator was insufferable at times but I liked the second half and felt it carried the first half. Maria was pretentious and kind of awful.

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Maria is a 29 year old trans woman living with her girlfriend in New York City. But she's kind of freaking out. Her girlfriend just broke up with her and she just got fired from her job, so she decides to steal her ex's car and drive across the country. Y'know, to figure out "who she is" or whatever. In a Wal-Mart in Nevada, she meets James, a 20 year old stoner dude who Maria is convinced is a trans woman. The two team up, smoke pot, talk about life, and meander.

Not only am I a sucker for self-actualization stories and introspective stream-of-consciousness narratives, but damn this book was actually really good too! Imogen Binnie is the Sally Rooney of trans literature. Though some reviewers have mentioned that it feels dated, I liked the references mostly because it felt more "classic" that way, especially set in a time period that no one really talks or thinks about anymore (maybe because we are all embarrassed about the things we did back then? There's not enough critical distance?). Anyways, Nevada is canon and I'm not afraid to say it! It's getting a well deserved re-release with a beautiful afterward by the author and I highly recommend you check it out.

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The publisher needed to be more upfront in the description about this being a *reissue* rather than a new book. I'm not interested in reading backlist ARCs, when I could just buy the book. The star rating is arbitrary as I have to include one in order to provide feedback.

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

To begin with, I found Nevada difficult to find a rythm with - I think that was down to the lack of speech marks throughout, as well as the dense layout of the book. However, the more I got into it, the more I realised the structure of the book was as integral to the storytelling as the actual story.

Nevada reads more like a stream of consciouss relaying than a story, and one that really helps readers connect to protagonist Maria's struggles in life. Her internal monologue is compelling from the beginning - I adored the way she refused to sugar coat anything, and wasn't afraid to admit how flawed she was. The book delves into Maria's struggles as a trans woman, but not in the way I've seen before in previous books that look at the experiences of trans women. She details the struggles of feeling stagnant in life, and the consequences of a life that is built upon not feeling like she was able to be her true self.

The books exploration of queer theory, and trans experience is one that seeks to align with realism, opposed to a theatric attempt to reductively explain what it means to be trans to cis readers. It is unabashed in the way Maria's often sporadic monologues speak from true experience of being a trans woman, and what it means to navigate a life in an identity that is still becoming familiar to you. As someone who's gender identity is still something I'm trying to understand, Maria is a character I think I'll always hold dear to me. She's flawed, but she wants so much good for the people in her life.

I'll 100% be recommending this book to anyone who'll listen, because I think following the journey of Maria as she sails through life on her bike whilst monologuing everything that's going on in her head and how she experiences the world is something a lot of people need to delve into. There is so much to learn from this book, and I'm lucky to have gotten to read it.

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while this was not a personal hit for me, it is objectively a good novel just not to my tastes. the author does a good job portraying her characters, thought to me they were not likeable. i think this novel would be better enjoyed by fans of the genre, unfortunately i am not.

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Wowie! What a vibrant, messy, wrenching novel. I loved spending time with Maria, her voice is compelling and is probably what kept me engaged throughout NEVADA. It's strange, too, how oddly dated the novel now seems (it's so specific to internet culture of like...15 years ago). But this is a milestone of a novel in terms of trans lit, and has paved the way to trans lit more broadly (would Detransition, Baby exist had it no been for Nevada)? It's also a very NYC novel, despite the latter half being set in Nevada. All in, I preferred the first half, which felt more engaging than the second (imo, James H was such a boring character to spend time with). But I loved the novel overall, what a ride.

Thank you for the e-galley!

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I've read this novel before and I really did not enjoy it. There was a lot of "telling" rather than "showing," and maybe that's supposed to show just how repressed and disassociated Maria is but it was just incredibly dull. I sympathized with Maria, but she was also one of those characters where you just want to reach through the page and be like "girl what the fuck are you doing?" The second half of the novel had me hooked and I was thoroughly invested in the plotline, only to be disappointed with the lack of closure. I understand why there wasn't closure, but it was also so unsatisfying and felt like the book was really trying to be a high-brow Literary Novel to appeal to the Punk New Yorkers in the most pointless sort of way. It was also just very dated, which is not the book's fault, but just makes for a reading experience that feels like you're living in 2010--which if you lived through 2010, you can attest that it is not a good feeling.

However, I do think this new edition with the afterword makes me enjoy the story a little more. Hearing the author's backstory about how she came to write and publish this novel was interesting. She also sets the context of what internet culture was like in the 2000s and that definitely helped the book make a little more sense to me. Still, I can't rate it any higher than my initial rating; it shouldn't take an afterword explanation for me to understand and enjoy a novel. Unfortunately, it's 2 stars for me. That said, I still think it's an important read due to it's prominence in the history of trans literature.

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Wonderful. Absolutely loved it. I was so excited to read this book and it delivered everything I had hoped for. It was insightful and reflective. It was raw and real. The rambly, almost "stream of consciousness" writing took some getting used to, but it did not take away from how much I enjoyed this book.

Even as a cis queer woman, I was able to relate to Maria and find relief in her affirmation that the queer experience is indeed messy.

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This is a book about a twenty something trans woman named Maria who is living in NYC and trying to figure her shit out. It is written kind of like a stream of consciousness diary almost and you immediately fall in love and feel extremely connected to her. You follow Maria through some tricky decisions she makes (or fails to make) while also facing relationship and identity issues, as well as her intersection with a younger character facing many of the same difficulties.

I do not think I could have enjoyed this book more. I will recommend it far and wide.

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"Wouldn't it be cool if there was a messy queer person who monologued at me for hours on end? What if it was a book told in a style reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs. Dalloway'?" If you have ever asked this, then my god—do I have the book for you!

In 'Nevada' by Imogen Binnie, we join trans gal Maria Griffith as she embarks on what promises to be a journey of self-rediscovery after a confusing break-up with her girlfriend of three years. Except that she spends over half of the book waffling back and forth on whether she even wants to change her apathetic outlook. Then when she finally commits, we meet James who is in almost the exact same passivity death trap—just pre-figuring out transition stuff.

Okay, deep frustrations with our two main characters aside—I feel like this book really got it. Multiple times I thought 'oh my god, I've had this exact conversation at a party full of queer people,' especially because of the writing style. The dialogue forgoes quotations entirely, uses filler words, and allows the characters to ramble for paragraphs. Some might compare it to mumblecore, but honestly, it just felt like how people in real life talk about weird, complicated gender shit.

Like others, I have my gripes with the ending feeling very unresolved, but I concede that that's not the point of 'Nevada'. Stories can just be stories, they don't need to have morals or for the characters to figure it all out. It's more that I felt like we really got to a turning point in the narrative only for it to end right in the middle of things.

If you're a queer person wanting to feel seen, called out, whatever the kids are saying these days in an uncomfortable yet cathartic way—I highly encourage you to take a trip to 'Nevada'.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This book is messy and complicated in all of the best ways. The book is eye opening and the two different POVs are a nice addition. The narrator is related and the book is darkly funny. The style that book is written in is different and may not be for everyone.

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Nevada is captivating from the very first page. The stream of consciousness narration is intimate and places you as close as you can get to the emotionally closed off protagonist, Maria. The characters are all unlikeable in their own ways, but I still found myself rooting for Maria and hoping she would be okay.

This new edition includes an extra afterword from the author. She gives some additional details and context for the book, including anecdotes from her own life as a trans woman in the early 2000s.

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I rarely finish a book in one sitting anymore, but I stayed up well into the night finishing this book.

It was extremely well written, gripping and engaging. It felt like I got a front-row seat into someone's mind, the rare opportunity to fully be gripped by someone unfiltered. Stylistically, this book stands out, the main character experiences the world in a third-person view, which is really interesting and portrays that otherness feeling through writing. As the book moves forward, you realize that the characters, like Maria, are extremely detached from themselves, constantly grappling with sexuality, gender and identity often referencing versions of themselves in a way that feels infantile. Everything about this novel feels intentional, the writing and language choices, the way pivotal information is revealed while on a spiral and getting feedback from other characters that play roles in the protagonist's life.

It feels very fresh and nuanced but in an extremely accessible way. Throughout the book, I was forced to look at my own behaviour, and the subconscious reinforcing of a patriarchal structure when it comes to transwomen living in a patriarchal society that is often upheld by many. Maria really stood out because you feel her desperation to find herself, but then not really digging deep enough to do so, and that detachment from herself reappears. There is a pattern to the journey with Maria, where you feel her start to make concrete realizations about herself and journey, but then return to old patterns or try to live in an idyllic way to find herself.

I will be recommending this book!

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So I got an ARC for the new version of this book (many thanks to the author and publisher), and I have not read this since around 2016, I think? I read this and Laura Jane Grace’s book back to back, after struggling with gender issues myself for a long while, and they were the figurative straws that broke the back that led to me transitioning and becoming the woman I am today. Needless to say that this book means a lot to me, and I was nervous to revisit it for this review. Sometimes things you revisit just aren’t as good the second time around, and I didn’t want that for this one. Fortunately, it wasn’t the case.

This is a story separated into two parts: the first the journey of a trans woman who feels lost in life, and the second the journey of a man with complicated gender issues that he wants to repress; 30 chapters each. There is also a newly added afterword by the author, where she adds insight into the decisions that went into the book. She does a great job of illuminating the decision to split the book up in this way, saying she felt the first part was a portrait of “post-transition” and the second of “pre-transition”.

One of the parts that most affected me was how Maria describes her relationship with her body and her emotions, and how being forced to act like she didn’t feel how she did stunted her development. Reading this then and now, I’m struck by the difference in those experiences. In 2016 I was shocked that this person seemed to be describing the liminal feeling I had been struggling with for so long, but now I am reminded of all that I’ve been through, the progress I still have to make, and the respect for myself that I’ve gained since.

As this originally came out in 2013, parts of this book are dated. 9 years will do that, especially in queer culture. It’s not too bad, but there are a few moments that may make you cringe a little bit. The other thing I commonly hear complaints about is the ending, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it; it’s perfect for the story. Understandably, people like tidy little bows to wrap up a story, but this isn’t that kind of story. The book plays in the gray areas that exist in real life, so if you’re looking for a trans icon character to look up to then Maria probably isn’t it. She’s struggling, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, and she makes bad decisions.

This is a book that changed my life. If I hadn’t read this book when I did, even HOW I did (ebook on my phone, reading it in the backseat of car trips, gently losing my entire sense of self but gaining an understanding passed down through text), I couldn’t tell you where or who I would be today. Realizing that, hey, maybe I can just be a girl and have a normal life, it doesn’t have to be a life-ruining decision to come out? Seeing my pre-transition self reflected in the thoughts of James? This book has given me so much, and I’m so glad it’s being reprinted now. My pre-order for a physical copy is already placed, and I can’t wait to finally have this book join my shelf.

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I was so excited to see this book get a reissue, and it delivered on everything I hoped to see in an "early" piece of trans literature. While the main characters aren't necessarily likable, I think the story itself is important and I'm so glad I got to read it.

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I was particularly excited to see Nevada reissued with a new afterword. Though it's been some time since the book's initial release, much trans representation in fiction is still facile (and often written by cis authors). Nevada challenges not only these archetypes but those predominant within the so-called Trans Narrative. Must-read.

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It’s likely impossible (especially given the day and age we live in) to say you didn’t like a book about trans people and not be accused of transphobia. But let me try, anyway,
I didn’t really like this book. I understand its appeal, it’s supposed to be the granddaddy of all transliterature - and it’s a teenager of a granddaddy because the field is so young, the book is only about 15 years old and set 20 years ago, at the time of this review’s publication.
Nowadays, that the trans conversation is much more prominent, from tv shows (Transparent) to blockbusters (the new Matrix), the publishers jumped on their opportunity at relevance and rereleased this book, complete with essay length afterword by the author. I did like the afterword, it stands tom mention. Considerably more than the book itself. In it the author, among many things, says something like she often ends up kind of hating trans characters in literature. Well, guess what?
The main protagonist in Nevada isn’t really likeable. Not hateable as such, just not likeable. There are two of them, technically. The book is split up between a post-transition 29-year-old transwoman and a 20-year-old potentially pre-transition stoner.
The older character lives in NYC, the younger in Nevada, but the two eventually meet (in Nevada) and the older one proceeds to try to mento the younger one.
The older one is tediously self-involved, obsessing every waking moment over being trans, emotionally shut down person who rides her bike, works in the (unnamed) Strand bookstore and contemplates her moribund relationship. She’s terrible at both her job and her relationship, not that good of a friend either. Too self-obsessed. Nothing compelling here.
The kid is a stoner in a small town with no future outside of a Wal-Mart career and an obsession with women’s bodies and clothes. The kid gets fascinated by the other character when she blows into his dusty nowhere town, but comes to find out that maybe not all she says is relevant to him, because, you know, advice is like that.
The novel is meant to have this hyper-realistic awareness of its time and of its character’s struggles, but mostly it comes across as young and striking in a gutterpunk way, like you can’t help but notice it but for the wrong reasons (mostly smell and dirt).
It isn’t terribly written as such and I can appreciate the significance as far as pure representation and visibility goes that it must have had for the trans community, but as a narrative work of literature it leaves a lot to be desired. At least, it reads quickly enough. Thanks Netgalley.

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