Something I’ve noticed from tracking my reading over the past few years is that I always seem to hit a real rough patch with reading in January and February. I think it’s because not a lot gets released in late December/early January, and what does it often stuff that the publisher doesn’t seem to have a lot of faith in. So there’s slim pickings, which means I’m often finally getting around to stuff that I was vaguely interested in earlier in the year, or searching the library for whatever’s available now, while also reading the new releases the publishing industry banished to these less-desirable release dates.
All of this to say, if you’re new here and you’re starting to ask yourself “Does AJ even like books?” know that I end up asking myself the same thing round about the first or second week of February every year.
Which brings us to Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton. I couldn’t really tell you if I liked Buxton’s Hollow Kingdom duology. It was such a weird reading experience, and I hesitate to recommend it unless I really know someone’s taste, but it definitely has its moments and it’s unique. So I really wanted to see what Buxton was like when she wasn’t writing about a foul-mouthed crow surviving the zombie apocalypse. Also, this book was about a small Italian village being upended by the discovery of a giant white truffle, and I’m low-key training my dog to maybe hunt truffles some day, so of course I wanted to read this.
This book is a sort of madcap caper kind of book, filled with larger-than-life characters who sometimes behave in unbelievable ways. There are a few surprisingly sweet and insightful moments. And there are scenes told from the POV of various animals in the village (including Aria, the very good dog who finds the truffle). So it does have a lot in common with Hollow Kingdom. There were things that I really enjoyed about this book and it could have been a silly read that I really enjoyed, except that there was something that ruined my enjoyment of the story, and this is where this review turns into a rant.
Around the midpoint of the book, we meet an egotistical Michelin-starred chef. As we’re in his head looking over the chefs who work under him, he concludes his mental description of the fourth chef by thinking “Or is she a they?”
Even this casual maybe-misgendering would be annoying enough, but then he goes on to think about how he tries but it’s just so hard with these young people and their pronouns and colorful hair. Then a few paragraphs later, we come back to this theme and see some examples of him being very bad at using they/them pronouns, and again, emphasizing how much he tries and how hard it is.
We never learn if the chef is actually non-binary. The few other times we see this character on-page, she/her pronouns are used.
We never see any openly non-binary or trans characters on page.
We don’t get to see anyone else calling him on this bullshit.
And y’all, if I had read this book even two months ago, I would have said “Well, that was awkward” and maybe recommend my trans and non-binary friends read with care, but otherwise, I might have recommended it as a fun if sometimes weird book.
But.
We’re just a few weeks out from Trump signing an Executive Order that denies existence of trans and non-binary people.
My spouse is non-binary. My spouse’s gender identity is no longer valid in the eyes of the federal government.
So no. I’m not really in the mood to read about some fictional cis man complaining about how hard it is to use they/them pronouns. You know what’s really hard? Watching your spouse realize that they might not be able to safely travel to see their aging parents over the next four or more years. Watching your spouse decide whether to misgender themself in order to renew their passport.
It’s not fucking funny anymore.
Honestly, it was never fucking funny.
The thing is, there’s a beautiful storyline throughout this book about a gay man who’s father was abusive and unkind to him about his sexual identity, and about how other people in the village showed him and his partner love and treated them like the valued members of the community they were. Why does our potentially non-binary chef, or some other trans character, not deserve this same level of respect and acceptance?
“Or is she a they?” Fuck off.
CWs and TWs: If you still want to read this book, you should know that it contains references to violence against truffle hounds, a scene with a dead boar that was killed in a hunt, child abuse, strong language, and sexual references, in addition to the casual transphobia.
Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Pierce County Library System.
Reading Challenge Prompts
World of Whimm: Has An Animal In It. This book has so many animals! There’s a donkey who almost won the mayoral race. There’s a tough street cat. A good truffle hound and a sweet but clueless puppy. We even get POV scenes from a bee and an ant. If the author showed half as much respect to non-binary people as to animals in writing this book, it would be great.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 4 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 6 of 25, no bingos.
Book Riot: 6 of 25.
Physical TBR: 1 of 12.
Brick & Mortar: 13 of 25, 0 bingos*.
*I’ve completed several of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!
World of Whimm: 6 of 24, no bingos.