Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I liked the messiness and realness of this novel. Nevada follows Maria Griffiths, a young trans woman living in New York City who’s stuck in dissatisfying relationship with her girlfriend and in a somewhat dead-end job at a local bookstore. When she finds out that her girlfriend lied to her, Maria realizes that she may need to strike out on her own to figure out a more complete and realized life for herself.

The first half of Nevada felt particularly strong. Maria has a distinct voice that is funny, relatable, and uniquely her own. Imogen Binnie does an excellent job writing about Maria’s internal experience of and reflections about gender, without the novel feeling like it’s purpose is to educate cis people about trans people’s experiences. I appreciated that this novel wasn’t a coming out story and was more about Maria’s adulthood and her struggle to find meaning, contentment, and safety within it.

The second half of the novel, the road trip part, came across as a bit too unstructured and meandering to me. The interesting and moving reflections and struggles related to gender continued, though the precision of the writing in the first half dissipated for me. Overall I’d still recommend this book to those interested in trans literature. It’s affecting and I can see why people call it a classic within the genre.