Nevada is the pinnacle of a modern classic. It's a staple in trans literature and frankly a life-changing read. Binnie's prose is addictive, it approaches the world with casualty, finding a way to deconstruct day to day life into thought-provoking snippets. She makes the world feel simultaneously endless and claustrophobic. Maria is a fantastic character to follow, she's often unlikeable, occasionally cruel, and unbearably human. It's a trans-centred novel written by and for trans people, I can't recommend it highly enough. Isaac (he/they) I received a free copy of 'Nevada' in exchange for an honest review

The back of this novel is filled with quotes from writers like Torrey Peters (author of Detransition Baby), and Andrea Lawlor (author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl) calling this novel life-changing, and indeed it is not hard to see why. As an admirer of Lawlor and Peters, this book sits as a kind of progenitor to their extraordinary recent publications. The frankness of Peters is here in Nevada, as is the intertextuality of Lawlor. This novel is a benchmark in trans literature, a funny and clever story told in slang which, by the end of the book, becomes a kind of beautiful language unto itself. Read this book!

Despite the cringey sections of bookshop work (the main character starts off working in a notable midtown new york second-hand bookshop, hilariously unnamed) that are slightly unbearable to read, Nevada is great and like fresh air. Mundane, existential, bizarre, heartwarming, brutally open and weirdly close to home. Main girl Maria is just trying to make her life less awful and I'm on board. I love the way it's written, where it feels like there are no rules. It reminded me a lot of the meandering of memoir "The Freezer Door" where everyday life chaotically and beautifully clashes with inner monologues.

Thanks to Picador for an advanced copy if this US novel that has already made waves in America as a modern classic of trans literature. The author's afterword offers a brilliant commentary on the book, particularly its ending. I very much appreciated this, since a lot is going on and one has to wrestle with how far the characters have resolved their struggles, if at all. Overall, the original narrative voice laced through with the vernacular works brilliantly to create a novel that feels like a response to the Great American Novel, one which is inclusive of those on the fringes of society and literature. And I appreciate how Binney wanted to write a trans novel for trans readers, rather than one explaining trans narrative to cisnormative people. A deeply important novel that, despite being written almost a decade, still holds it's own in today's world.