This program is read by the author.
"Nevada is a book that changed my life: it shaped both my worldview and personhood, making me the writer I am. And it did so by the oldest of methods, by telling a wise, hilarious, and gripping story." —Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
A beloved and blistering cult classic and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction finally back in print, Nevada follows a disaffected trans woman as she embarks on a cross-country road trip.
Maria Griffiths is almost thirty and works at a used bookstore in New York City while trying to stay true to her punk values. She's in love with her bike but not with her girlfriend, Steph. She takes random pills and drinks more than is good for her, but doesn't inject anything except, when she remembers, estrogen, because she's trans. Everything is mostly fine until Maria and Steph break up, sending Maria into a tailspin, and then onto a cross-country trek in the car she steals from Steph. She ends up in the backwater town of Star City, Nevada, where she meets James, who is probably but not certainly trans, and who reminds Maria of her younger self. As Maria finds herself in the awkward position of trans role model, she realizes that she could become James's savior—or his downfall.
One of the most beloved cult novels of our time and a landmark of trans literature, Imogen Binnie's Nevada is a blistering, heartfelt, and evergreen coming-of-age story, and a punk-smeared excavation of marginalized life under capitalism. Guided by an instantly memorable, terminally self-aware protagonist—and featuring a new afterword by the author—Nevada is the great American road novel flipped on its head for a new generation.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 7, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250860439
- File size: 192090 KB
- Duration: 06:40:11
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 11, 2013
This debut, the first novel from a new indie press dedicated to publishing transgender narratives, tells the story of Maria Griffiths, a 29-year-old trans woman. When Maria learns that her girlfriend Steph may have cheated, she makes decisions about not only the relationship, but also herself, grappling with her history and identity. After she’s fired from her Manhattan bookstore job, Maria borrows/steals Steph’s car, buys a bunch of heroin, and hits the road to ponder gender, heteronormativity, and social conditioning, reminding herself that a lifetime of emotional repression does not dissipate at the moment of transition. In Star City, Nev., Maria meets James, a young man questioning his own gender and sexuality, and invites him to accompany her to Reno. Throughout, she indulges in long inner monologues, soliloquies that quickly grow tiresome. There’s something immature about Maria and something pat about her thinking. Neither James nor the reader ultimately stands to learn much from spending time in her company. -
June 10, 2024
First published in 2013 and now available in audio, Binnie's first book is paramount in the small, but ever-growing, world of transgender fiction. Sincerely narrated by Binnie herself, the first half of the book focuses on Maria's life as a transgender woman working in an "anonymous" large bookstore in lower Manhattan. Listeners will be party to Maria's internal monologue as she decouples from her partner and loses her job. Halfway through the book, Maria takes off driving west and meets James in Nevada. Through his young eyes, listeners can see the aging, running, and worldly Maria. James is conflicted about his own sexuality and gender and sees this as an opportunity to learn from Maria. Their dialogue reveals the intricacies of identity and sexuality. It is a delight to finally be able to access this story through audio. Binnie's voice might as well be Maria's--entirely authentic as it ranges from apathetic to conversational. Binnie ends the audiobook with a lesson on the landscape of trans literature and her own experience with this story. VERDICT A must-have for LGBTQ+ representation in audiobooks, and a great way to introduce new readers to this contemporary classic.--Laura Stein
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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