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Burn the Binary!: Vol. 2: Selected Writing on the Politics of Being Trans, Genderqueer, and Nonbinary
212 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 14, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this collection of blog posts from author Riki Wilchins about the issues that transgender people face in modern society. The author wrote compelling satire that sounds like the right-wing would say if transgender was the norm rather than cisgender in society. Some of these essays were a mixture of satire, personal essays, and statistical analyses.
Unfortunately, due to the multiple genres found in this collection, the book felt like it was trying to be too many things at once to the point where I was losing interest. I wish that the essays of same genre were made into different books, or at least divided up into different sections in the book rather than being spread throughout.
I also didn’t like that the essays were written as if they were blog posts (from my understanding they were, but these essays should’ve been edited to fit a book format).
The information Wilchins provided in this book is useful, especially for those who don’t know much about the transgender community and what’s happening in society to this group. Overall, the book is worth the read because of its helpful information.
I enjoyed this collection of blog posts from author Riki Wilchins about the issues that transgender people face in modern society. The author wrote compelling satire that sounds like the right-wing would say if transgender was the norm rather than cisgender in society. Some of these essays were a mixture of satire, personal essays, and statistical analyses.
Unfortunately, due to the multiple genres found in this collection, the book felt like it was trying to be too many things at once to the point where I was losing interest. I wish that the essays of same genre were made into different books, or at least divided up into different sections in the book rather than being spread throughout.
I also didn’t like that the essays were written as if they were blog posts (from my understanding they were, but these essays should’ve been edited to fit a book format).
The information Wilchins provided in this book is useful, especially for those who don’t know much about the transgender community and what’s happening in society to this group. Overall, the book is worth the read because of its helpful information.
July 7, 2025
I received an ARC from the publisher for my review, and therefore did not pay for the book.
Some of the arguments in the book were statistics or arguments that I had heard before, but some were new to me, and I appreciate thinking in new ways about issues. The book addresses most of the arguments with humor. Lots of humor. Therefore this isn't the dry essay book that some people might have been expecting. That said, sometimes the humor was a little macabre for the scariness of the specific topic that particular essay was addressing. Therefore the reader should be prepared for what I might call "gallow's humor." I'm not sure this book would be the #1 first book I would choose to enlighten someone on the issues, but it is definitely a valuable contribution to the discussion, and I appreciate that the author took the time to share her views with us.
Some of the arguments in the book were statistics or arguments that I had heard before, but some were new to me, and I appreciate thinking in new ways about issues. The book addresses most of the arguments with humor. Lots of humor. Therefore this isn't the dry essay book that some people might have been expecting. That said, sometimes the humor was a little macabre for the scariness of the specific topic that particular essay was addressing. Therefore the reader should be prepared for what I might call "gallow's humor." I'm not sure this book would be the #1 first book I would choose to enlighten someone on the issues, but it is definitely a valuable contribution to the discussion, and I appreciate that the author took the time to share her views with us.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews