Akiva Reads

by Robin Talley

This was actually much better than I was led to expect it would be?? The number of one-star reviews is stunning me. I have to think it's mismatched expectations---this presents superficially as an Educational, Representation-Fueled YA Novel and as a Romance Novel but it's neither. I liked the ending, but I can see why a romance reader expecting an HEA would be put off.

What We Left Behind doesn't edumicate the reader about the proper meanings of terms---Toni is messy and self-righteous and frequently kind of a dick and has no idea what's going on with Toni, and it's all very developmentally appropriate for an 18 year old. The representation trans people actually need, tyvm. Where Gretchen messes up is not asking the wrong questions but being too scared of messing up to ask questions---!! It's a different kind of interpersonal pain than asking the possibly-offensive questions and expressing the possibly-offensive feelings, as the sister does, but the thesis of the book is that you need to express things to get past them, and overthinking does not actually accomplish the same thing.

Readers freaking out that Toni isn't firm in Toni's identity as genderqueer and that it happens to be, in T's case, a stepping stone on the way to figuring out T's gender identity are way off the mark. Sorry to have to tell you that it's ~valid~ to not come out of the womb knowing how you identify! Sorry to have to tell you that other trans people can sometimes be jerks and make assumptions about you and your journey! Those are very common experiences, and it doesn't make anyone involved irredeemable.

Carroll is... hm. I finally got what the author was aiming for at the end, and I retrospectively think the arc was interesting and important to the story, but up until then it's a complete headscratcher. I think his specific offensive comments could have been toned down a lot for a greater overall effect; he doesn't have to be bigoted repeatedly and in every single direction at once in order to get across that he's rude and doesn't learn from being corrected.

People fighting over who gets to identify as "lesbian" is the most boring shit on god's green internet, so I enjoyed when Gretchen and Carroll sleep together. Gretchen just goes "well, that was a thing that happened" and doesn't doubt her sexuality for a moment; only other characters are confused. It was actually a really sweet moment between G and C that made me much more sympathetic to both. They both needed comfort and they emotionally support each other and took it too far, and G is mature enough to understand that and let it go, while C isn't.

3.5/5, rounded up because I do think some of the ratings are unfair. I've liked a few Robin Talley books, it looks like---clearly should seek more out.