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A review by royalraspberry
Transformed: San Francisco by Suzanne Falter, Jack Harvey
2.0
Let me be explicitly clear right off the bat: This book is not LGBTQ+ friendly
This is a poorly devised, poorly executed novel filled with transphobic comments, the f slur dropped around like it's candy, and the homophobic trope that all homophobic people are secretly gay themselves. The "villain" (who is set up to conjure up actual sympathy) is cartoony to a degree of near hilarity and makes light of the very real threat of violent evangelism and hate crimes that real LGBTQ+ people face. He is not layered or nuanced, he is a poorly executed trope.
Electra is just a horrifically unrelatable, unlikeable character who drops transphobic comments but is instantly forgiven because Charlie is just filled with that much self loathing and doubt about his ability to maintain a relationship with anyone.
Frankie is halfway decent but starts the book out by "just knowing" who is trans and who isn't because they "aren't like all the other men", and then continues to do things like joke about him hitting menopause and then immediately follow it with demanding when he is going to "get his dick".
Vile, problematic trash that CIS readers will just eat up because the entire book feeds into the obsession with trans folk's genetalia, topped off by asking in the book club questions if Charlie should get bottom surgery.
And for the actual plot? It's horrid, hinged on plot holes and things that make no sense, combined with a sheer, willful lack of knowledge on laws and police procedures.
This book gets a whole whopping two stars because the authors somehow managed to cobble together vaguely coherent English sentences.
This is a poorly devised, poorly executed novel filled with transphobic comments, the f slur dropped around like it's candy, and the homophobic trope that all homophobic people are secretly gay themselves. The "villain" (who is set up to conjure up actual sympathy) is cartoony to a degree of near hilarity and makes light of the very real threat of violent evangelism and hate crimes that real LGBTQ+ people face. He is not layered or nuanced, he is a poorly executed trope.
Electra is just a horrifically unrelatable, unlikeable character who drops transphobic comments but is instantly forgiven because Charlie is just filled with that much self loathing and doubt about his ability to maintain a relationship with anyone.
Frankie is halfway decent but starts the book out by "just knowing" who is trans and who isn't because they "aren't like all the other men", and then continues to do things like joke about him hitting menopause and then immediately follow it with demanding when he is going to "get his dick".
Vile, problematic trash that CIS readers will just eat up because the entire book feeds into the obsession with trans folk's genetalia, topped off by asking in the book club questions if Charlie should get bottom surgery.
And for the actual plot? It's horrid, hinged on plot holes and things that make no sense, combined with a sheer, willful lack of knowledge on laws and police procedures.
This book gets a whole whopping two stars because the authors somehow managed to cobble together vaguely coherent English sentences.