Little Fish

“And then she realized how dumb, pointless, childish, and princess-like it'd been to think any part of her body could be kept sheltered and untouched and loved. The thought went up in ashes without remorse or sadness.”

this book is written with such an intimately personal touch that i felt like Wendy was a friend by the time i finished reading. the style of writing is more stream-of-consciousness than i usually prefer, but it lends itself to the storyline, which is ultimately not plot-driven. unlike many books (mostly written by cis authors) featuring a trans protagonist, this felt like an insightful character study of a regular girl living in the world.

the only clichés in this book were ones also found in real life. despite my trans experience being very different from wendy's and that of most transfem people, this book felt incredibly realistic and really resonated with me. everyone is flawed, loose ends are not tied up, people get hurt, and Wendy still keeps living.

I was not expecting that end! The last third of the story loose energy and active development that goes through the rest of the book. I could even say that I didn't like the end. Although the story is a roller coaster itself. Sometimes really funny and sometimes really depressing.

Casey Plett take me to her journey around Wendy's life. Knowing that trans life expectancy is 35 years old, the fear of death is constantly around. How the society judge her but she's strong enough to do not care. That is something I really like about this book: how strong Wendy is. The main character is not afraid of judgement or social perception.

I hope it be something else in the future. I think there are some characters that could have relevance in the future and even have a harder focus in future books. But do not know if Plett is planning it so.


“Lila was silent for a moment. “Why's it so fucking hard for us to stay alive, man?” pag. 241

⭐⭐⭐

I'm not sure why I didn't assume a book about trans Mennonites set in the depths of Canadian winter would be depressing, but this was bleak as hell.

At the beginning of the book, Wendy's life is relatively stable. She has friends, a house, a job. But throughout the book, a lot of that stability slips through her fingers, often without warning. She is perpetually at risk for harassment or worse. She is misgendered but also fetishized, sometimes by the same people. Her perspective is disjointed, made hazy and unreliable by her drinking.

There wasn't as much focus on Henry as I thought there would be, and sometimes I wished Plett would explain a little more about Canadian Mennonite culture, as that's totally unfamiliar to me.

Wendy doesn't get a lot of closure, but maybe that's Plett's point. And like the movie Tangerine, there are hopeful and endearing and funny moments (though overall Tangerine feels a lot lighter than this). In all, Little Fish is an important and unique own voices novel, and given the topic and context, it probably needs to be hard to get through.

For the 2019 Read Harder Challenge: A novel by a trans or nonbinary author. Wendy, a 30ish trans woman in Winnipeg, struggles continually with the threat of sexual violence, discrimination, employment insecurity, and her drug/alcohol abuse, and yet this is not an entirely bleak novel. Also, it's not really focused on Wendy seeking the truth about her grandfather, despite the blurb.