First and foremost - this is a horror novel, and therefore contains graphic situations and language. Always try to know what you are getting into when reading horror/thriller novels - I have seen some reviews of this book criticizing it for being "too gory", as if it wasn't very apparent that this was a horror novel. It's okay to be uncomfortable with such content or not enjoy this genre, but critiquing the book for genre-specific elements that you personally don't like doesn't seem like a fair evaluation of the novel!
Now that I got that off my chest - the thing I like most about this novel is how it reimagines a pandemic (something we all are experiencing), and the specific consequences it has on the ones trying to survive. The book uses this virus to challenge and twist how we think about gender with incredibly high stakes: will you succumb to the virus, or will you be murdered by those who are projecting their narrow-minded views onto you?
The scariest part of the story is how it uses such an extreme apocalyptic event to highlight real threats that transgender people face in the real world today. In both the book and in real life, they are wrongfully villainized for simply existing - the real threat is obvious, yet there always seems to be a target on their back (a little more literally in the novel).
How did you feel when reading the book? Did it challenge you to reconsider how you view or classify gender? Did the extreme nature of the story and the high stakes make you think differently about how you view the experiences of transgender people in our own world? Share your thoughts!
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the forum:
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