Bad Feminist

A must read.

I wanted to like this more, I really did. Overall it just seemed a little... sloppy, unedited. I mean, okay, it's a memoir, that's cool... but it felt a bit like she was afraid to delve very deeply into anything, was afraid to have a strong opinion one way or the other.

Most of the essays felt muddy, going off in multiple directions, not really coming together with any kind of cohesive point. Or she'd make a relatively strong statement and then go on to equivocate and second-guess and undermine it. Really just kind of all over the place.

I get it, I can relate to what she's saying. Identity is complicated and the process of thinking through these things is maybe the important thing. As someone with some exposure to feminist cultural criticism, this seemed a little watered-down for my tastes. Would possibly serve as a good introduction for folks who aren't as familiar with that context.

I did enjoy her dissenting opinion about depictions of slavery, and her discussion about The Hunger Games. Possibly some of where this lost me is that many of the essays were responses to media I haven't watched.

Read this for book club, might update this review after our discussion.

oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my goshI think the last time I've felt so connected to and validated by a book was [b:The Partly Cloudy Patriot 12358 The Partly Cloudy Patriot Sarah Vowell https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388249904s/12358.jpg 229722], which as you may know I read and loved in college. (But I think Bad Feminist will have wider appeal than Partly-Cloudy Patriot, which I think is kind of a niche book.) I love Roxane Gay's writing wherever I can find it, and having all of these essays together is so amazing. I love when I agree with Roxane Gay about things because she makes me feel so smart and validated for having correct opinions. I love when I don't agree with Roxane Gay, or when she has strong opinions about something I haven't thought about before, becuase she is so great at persuading me to see things a different way. She is just so smart and honest and great at picking apart complicated cultural tangles. I just want to buy 100 copies of this book and thrust it at everyone I know.