Review: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

Stag Dance is a collection of 3 short stories and a novella, all different genres but still feel connected. I absolutely LOVED this. Not only does Torrey Peters have a beautiful way with words, but she uses unique settings and stories to make comparisons about life as a trans person. She mixes humor with characters and sequences that make you uncomfortable in the best way.

I had the opportunity to see her speak at Pittsburgh Book Fest at the end of May, and she did a reading from The Chaser, which is the 2nd short story in this collection. She's a captivating storyteller, and I was immediately intrigued. I had to snag my wife's copy to start reading as soon as we got home 😅

My wife has been a fan of Torrey's work for a while; Detransition, Baby really resonated with her as a trans mom. She had the opportunity to tell Torrey this when we met her in Pittsburgh, and she was honestly so kind.

As a wife to a trans woman, I feel as if Stag Dance really put into perspective a lot of things that I may not have considered before about what it's like to experience gender dysphoria and the common anxieties revolving around gender identity.

(‼️TINY SPOILERS NEXT‼️)

Particularly the scene where Babe Bunyan follows Lisen in the blanket throwing incident - I could really feel the shame and intense sadness and embarrassment the character felt reading that scene. The same with when Lisen declares them to be "sisters," feeling so happy for Babe, and then the heartbreak later when Lisen betrays him.