Mercy Gene
The Man-Made Making of a Mad Woman

I thoroughly enjoyed Mercy Gene by J.D. Derbyshire which is surprising given this is a book about trauma, lack of mental health, a family in chaos, gender issues – a whole lot of stuff. What made it so enjoyable was the author’s personality and writing style - full of innovation, fun, whimsy and hum......more

Perfection!! I picked this up to complete the Read Harder 2023 task to read a favourite book by a favourite author, as this has a very enticing blurb by Miriam Toews on the cover. Although inside, the rave review from Ivan E. Coyote also could have sold me on the book! This book is absolutely perfect......more

A genre-bender. A gender-blender show-all. A wild, visceral, poetic ride replete with some of the most delightful wordplay I have read in about 50 coons ages. I laughed out loud and felt deep envy of such miraculous wordplay, Derbyshire knows how to turn a word inside out, folded in half, and presen......more

This is my ode to Chloé. Our shared and separate griefs brought us together and much like Chloé, this book came into my life at a poetic time. JD has a wonderful, charismatic style that allows their writing to be so memorable, in parts of both pain and promise. Highly recommend. The woman of the hour......more

Sliding from deeply personal experiences to larger views of cultural memes and persistent philosophical questions, in a bold and heartrending search for healing, JD Derbyshire uses every tool at her disposal. I read this book more than a year ago and I continue to be dazzled by its skill. JD Derbysh......more