Stag Dance

A Novel & Stories

De: Torrey Peters

Narrado por: Lee Osorio, Briggon Snow, Eileen Noonan, Pyrrha Nicole

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “This inventive, boundary-pushing follow-up to Detransition, Baby . . . [takes] on gender, transness and lives on the margins in all of their gorgeously complicated glory.”—People

“Hot, heartbreaking, and thrillingly victorious.”—Miranda July, New York Times bestselling author of All Fours

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • ONE OF VULTURE'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Electric Lit, them, Chicago Public Library

In this collection of one novel and three stories, bestselling author Torrey Peters’s keen eye for the rough edges of community and desire push the limits of trans writing.

In Stag Dance, the titular novel, a group of restless lumberjacks working in an illegal winter logging outfit plan a dance that some of them will volunteer to attend as women. When the broadest, strongest, plainest of the axmen announces his intention to dance as a woman, he finds himself caught in a strange rivalry with a pretty young jack, provoking a cascade of obsession, jealousy, and betrayal that will culminate on the big night in an astonishing vision of gender and transition.

Three startling stories surround Stag Dance: “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones” imagines a gender apocalypse brought about by an unstable ex-girlfriend. In “The Chaser,” a secret romance between roommates at a Quaker boarding school brings out intrigue and cruelty. In the last story, “The Masker,” a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip turns dark when a young crossdresser must choose between two guides: a handsome mystery man who objectifies her in thrilling ways, or a cynical veteran trans woman offering unglamorous sisterhood.

Acidly funny and breathtaking in its scope, with the inventive audacity of George Saunders or Jennifer Egan, Stag Dance provokes, unsettles, and delights.

Cringy and Beautiful

I loved the variety of writing styles tailored to each story. Very creative, imaginative and fresh, yet deeply relatable on a human level. Listened to it all in one day.

The brilliant dialogue!

I loved the creativity and authenticity. Ms. Peters is such a talented author! I very much enjoyed this read!

This stung

Scathingly honest. It's refreshing to read about the dark sides of your culture, and we need to in order to explore who we are. This does the same for me as a trans woman as horror stories in general does for me as a woman, as a white person or as a european person of privilege ø.

A Raw Look at the Trans (and Queer) Experience

Torrey Peters is an incredibly talented author. The stories in this book all hit on the nuances and ugly parts of the trans and queer experience. It’s hard to write those parts with tact and care while still being honest, and I think she nailed it. They were hard to listen to at many points- I wanted a happier ending for basically all the main characters (but nonetheless felt the endings they had were fair for how their stories went).

Fantastic

Loved this book. So well written, so smart, absolutely adored this book
Highly recommend, as well as her other book
Also stag dance, the novella is beyond amazing

How the hell did she come up with that? The language is incredible.