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Trans Women Frenemies Mirror Each Other’s Needs in This Novel
June Martin’s debut novel ‘Love/Aggression’ showcases a tragedy of queer housemates
Love/Aggression is a stupendously weird novel that came out earlier this year from tRaum Books. It’s about two frenemies locked in orbit. The Transfeminine Review longlisted it for their 2024 Reader’s Choice Awards.
All the characters are trans, or at least all the important ones. I didn’t notice anyone not being trans. If any of these fictional characters are secretly cis, it’s not our business.
Their fictional city is a multiplicity of metaphysical possibilities. Conveying a hint of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a great watering hole called Indisputably Coffee materializes for each daily commuter exactly at the halfway point of their personal home-workplace route. If a coffee shop can follow you, then you know you’re never going to break away from your intense trans frenemy.
The storyline is unconventional. The novel is driven by sarcasm, shards of broken glass, and a trans rage goddess aesthetic. I think we’re not meant to talk about Love/Aggression in terms of precisely “what happens” but more in terms of the relationship dynamics and feelings in it. The characters aren’t arguing about anything specific…