Book 703: The Names We Take – Trace Kerr

By no actual planning on my part I’m posting this on the release date of The Names We Take, which never happens. To be completely honest, the publisher sent this to me months ago and I just now got around to reading it, but hey things work out for a reason.* I liked the idea of the publisher, Ooligan Press, which is a student run press at Portland State University that concentrates on Pacific Northwest Writers and because the blurb was interesting and they’d clearly spent some time perusing my blog I accepted the galley.

The entire time I was reading this I couldn’t help but think about the new Netflix original series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Wikipedia link). While both are post-apocalyptic fiction, Kipo has fantastical mutated beasts and this one seems to be 100% grounded in the real world, but both of them deal very matter-of-factually with sexuality and chosen families which is incredibly refreshing. The other thing I thought of was Kathleen Winter’s Annabel, a beautifully written novel about an intersex character living in rural Canada that really moved me when I read it.

“Pretend it’s just an ordinary day. A regular day of living on the streets and coming into the library to sit in comfy chair and read. Not the nightmare of surviving One Mile Cough.” (8)

The freakiest part of the novel was Kerr’s prescience of where the world currently is when she wrote this book. It was eerie as hell reading about “One Mile Cough” and its repercussions on the world in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic! I’m writing this a bit after I finished the novel so some of the details are a bit hazy, but basically this disease/pandemic started and slowly took over the world leaving very few people behind and those that are behind have to fight for survival. And then if you add in what I can only assume is some sort of precognitive knowledge of the cultural phenomena that is Tiger King (Wikipedia link), I’m dead.

“Pip had only been to Cat Tails once on a field trip in third grade. The place styled itself as a retirement home meets game preserve for ex-circus cats and other predators stupidly kept as pets. There were lions, tigers, and bears . . . oh my. She sincerely hoped no one had been rash enough to let out the inmates of the wildlife refuge.” (141)

Like come on Kerr, quit travelling to our future and telling us what’s going to happen. It’s creepy (but also really well written).

“She’d called Pip by her old name. Her deadname. Of course she had.” (63)

“The moment had been months in the making. It was only a matter of days after the kitchen confrontation before she dropped out of school and ran away. She’d rather live on the street than pretend to be something she wasn’t.” (181)

The protagonist, Pip, made the story for me. She reads as approachable, even though she clearly had an axe to grind and a chip on her shoulder, but really developed as a character, especially after she meets Iris. Pip is intersex and although it is a focal point of the story, it doesn’t become the whole story and neither does her bisexuality. I felt Kerr wrote both of these aspects of Pip’s character very thoughtfully and on a level that was approachable to all ages. When Pip explains to Iris about intersex individuals it was incredibly well done without being too scientific or too vague.

In addition to Pip’s various identities, I felt Kerr did a great job of talking about other heavier subjects (i.e. sexual predators/grooming, murder, homophobia/transphobia, etc.) without numbing them down or demeaning them, but more importantly without overwhelmingly

“Fly reached to pull Pip close, wrapping her legs tight around her hips and resting her head on Pip’s shoulder. Pip thought her heart would burst. It was like being hugged by a lightning bolt. She sank into the feeling and hoped it wouldn’t end.” (277)

If there was anything I wanted more of in the story it was the development of Pip’s relationship with Fly. It developed so quickly toward the end of the book that I just wanted more time with it. It showed Pip in a new light and showed that her character had even more depth than we were allowed to see in the book. It’s not a bad thing to want more from a book, and maybe this says more about me and the dozens of MM romance novels I’ve been reading over the past few weeks, but give me more!

As a final note, I general spend more time reading any forwards or author added notes (bios/afterwards/explanations) on galley copies to get a better idea of an author and I felt Kerr including this as part of her afterward was really powerful.

“As a bisexual, cisgender woman, my hope in forming a character like Pip was to capture some of the experience of being both bisexual and intersex. I also wanted to give readers the opportunity to explore a character who didn’t need to be rescued, but instead had knowledge of their own power.”(283)

And it’s that last bit that really hit the point of this novel home for me. A young woman gaining knowledge in her own power and not only changing what was wrong around her, but finding a version of utopia with her chosen family with a happy for now (or a happily ever after, hard to say) ending was incredibly beautiful and what we need more of in today’s society.

Recommendation: It doesn’t matter your age, gender, sexual orientation, or any other box you fit (or don’t fit) into, this is well worth the read. It’s beautifully written and approachable, and as harrowing as some parts are the ending leaves you with a smile and a hopefully feeling which is all you can really ask for in a great book.

*I received a copy of The Names We Take from the publisher via Edelweiss in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “Purple gondolas hung about the river like a cluster of grapes at the end of the growing season.”

Closing Line: “She’d kept her promise.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)