Nevada, by Imogen Binnie - Hope
In the first half of Nevada, we see the world through Maria’s eyes as she complains about her days of emotional bike rides, awkward sex, boring shifts at her job at the bookstore, and updates to her blog, shared from the local internet coffee shop. It is only when everything comes crashing down that she decides to get out of the life that she has never felt was her own, and decides to embark on a road trip, stopping in Nevada. The second half of the book is told from another perspective, that of a young person called James, that Maria meets on this trip. James is just beginning to question his gender identity, and his life exists as a confused and unsure parallel to the certain and post-transition life that Maria lives.
Despite the characters and their internal voices being well established, the plot is not necessarily the sturdiest or most complex thing you will read, but I can’t see it being any other way. This is a story meant to communicate the internal world of the narrators, and we need to know them intimately if we are to begin to understand the ways that they struggle, and their thoughts on gender and society. Ultimately, the plot exists to facilitate the circumstances that Maria and James must encounter to have certain thought processes triggered, so they can continue their monologue for the reader.
Besides being a work of contemporary fiction first published in 2013, the way that Binnie is able to include the difficult conversations surrounding sexuality, gender identity, and transmisogyny in this work make it seem to be much more than purely fiction, and instead transform it into an informative work. This novel has the power to inform those less knowledgeable; to share the idea that maybe those they demonise are not cruel or dangerous, but instead people just as lost and confused as all of us in this modern age of chaos. So often we as a society show endless statistics and news stories of the transgender community that give no individuality to those involved, risking generalising such a diverse group, or removing emotional involvement and empathy.
It is still empathetic and open about current gender issues, while also maintaining the ability to entertain and emotionally engage with those that possess previous knowledge on the subject matter.
As a cis female lesbian, I did find that I was initially drawn to the book from the mentions of Maria being in a lesbian relationship. As I often seek out work that portrays such relationships, I would say that I am glad that this was not all that I was able to find in regards to LGBT+ conversations in the book. Knowing the value of trans women in the community, and the many ways that their existence is challenged and dismissed, I find that through reading the novel I began to consider the importance of my role as a reader. How it got me thinking about how little I can recall myself actively seeking out transfeminine stories and authors. I would say that a certain merit of this book has been the way that it made me, as a cisgender person, reconsider the cisgender-normative ways that I approached fiction.
Considering the actual substance of the book, and the ways it was written, I cannot say much that is truly negative. Stylistically, if you are a person that struggles with the omission of quotation marks, more popularly seen in the works of Sally Rooney, then this is probably not the book for you. However, if you are happy to enjoy or tolerate this stylistic choice, I would say that this is a novel that every cisgender person should read, if they have the time, if they wish to gain an understanding about the experience of trans women from a personal perspective.
Hope
