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For a while in the 10's it felt like every single person who read books had read NEVADA. Except me. I always meant to get to it, but I am very bad at making time for backlist reading. Luckily FSG's reissue means I had an excuse to finally get into it and I'm very glad I did.

I totally get why this book had such an impact on people. The early 10's were extremely heavy on Trans 101 in the larger societal discourse, this book came out before people had Laverne Cox on their televisions as the first trans woman character played by a trans woman actress they'd actually seen on tv. It was, as you say, a different time. But NEVADA is not from a different time. I mean, it technically is, Maria is around my age and I enjoyed all her memories of the early internet and such, but the themes of NEVADA are light years ahead of 2013 when it first came out. It could come out today and we would all find it very relevant. Same probably goes for 10 more years down the line. It is precisely because it does not worry itself with Trans 101 that it works so well.

I love how much of a mess Maria is, without feeling like that overdone Oh Look I'm 30 Years Old In New York And I'm A Mess novel. Binnie's writing is extremely realistic, in that some of the sentences could have come out of my own thoughts. I liked how clear it is that it is just not good in Maria's head, how much she has used the rhythms of her life as distraction. But when we finally get a change it does not feel like a relief, like now everything will get better. Instead we are all like, "Oh no, Maria, this is a bad idea." Binnie loves to start a trope for you but not finish it the way you're expecting.

The new version has an Afterword that I quite enjoyed, where she lays out in part what she was going for, wanting to show us Maria, who is all fucked up post-transition, and James, who is all fucked up pre-transition to be more clear about how those parts of your life are still connected. I understand why people don't like the second part of the book, but I found it really affecting. James's refusal to admit what is going on in his life reminds you of Maria, as different as they are, you see how much they have in common. Often in fiction with trans characters, it feels like there is this clearly laid out path where all you have to do is just be honest about who you are and then everything will get better. And Binnie insists on not framing everything around that. She sees a throughline between the ways it is hard before transition and the ways it is hard after, how it doesn't just all get left behind. A lot of books would have given us Maria finally growing and maturing when she takes on the role of mentor, but Binnie has Maria get kind of freaked out by the whole thing. I loved that. Though, you know, the Afterword coming at the end means you think you have a couple more chapters left when you actually don't. Ah well.

I'm glad this novel was so well received and I'm glad it's getting new life. I'm glad I finally got to it.