reginasbread's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Transphobia
The essay about the Paris trans community is problematic at best. She uses dead names a lot and trivialises the experiences of the people she interviewedeliserey's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
oceanelle's review against another edition
5.0
loved this! gabriela wiener’s essays are thoughtful, thought-provoking, vulnerable, and introspective in the best way, in the most unlikely of circumstances. i want to read more of her work.
drmcmillonbrown's review against another edition
2.0
”Sexographies” by Gabriela Wiener (a Peruvian journalist who specializes in putting herself in extreme situations & documenting them) is a collection of essays on sex, relationships, motherhood, death, partner violence, and more. The first few essays were very raunchy, but they challenged typical views of relationship dynamics. The rest of the book was tame. Some essays didn’t do it for me but others 100% did. It was unorthodox fun to explore Spain & Peru “after-hours” w/Weiner. Overall, this is an OK read
Favorite quote: "Women die because they have dared to move a few fractions of an inch or several miles outside the sphere that patriarchy has relegated them to"
Favorite quote: "Women die because they have dared to move a few fractions of an inch or several miles outside the sphere that patriarchy has relegated them to"
lauren_endnotes's review
4.0
Gonzo journalism follows the notion: Don't just observe and report events - become a part of them. Objectivity usually is "out the window", and the writer tends to be all in. The writing style popularized by Hunter S. Thompson in the 1960s has seen a continued popularity - maybe even more so with reality-based programming and the constant content creators? - and Wiener's book fits well into this category. She visits a Peruvian prison to study their tattoo culture, spends the weekend with a polygamous sex cult / family in Peru, visits a swingers' club in Spain, follows a famous dominatrix and takes part in show, explains the process of egg harvesting, experiments with ayahuasca (twice in one day!) in a shamanic ritual in the Amazon... and seriously, those are only the first handful of essays.
Shocking exploits, but in Wiener's hands the stories take a much deeper tone. She is a skilled writer, and the translation by Adcock and Greaves is spectacular. She quickly endears herself, even as she shares *all* the details. Not all of the essays are sexual in nature (she seems to do most of those right up front) while the back half of the book ventures into beauty/ugliness, parenting, Isabel Allende, immigration and "home", and staging one's own death.
The Isabel Allende interview essay, entitled Isabel Allende Will Keep Writing From the Afterlife was brilliant, and I highlighted/shared several notes from it.
Shocking exploits, but in Wiener's hands the stories take a much deeper tone. She is a skilled writer, and the translation by Adcock and Greaves is spectacular. She quickly endears herself, even as she shares *all* the details. Not all of the essays are sexual in nature (she seems to do most of those right up front) while the back half of the book ventures into beauty/ugliness, parenting, Isabel Allende, immigration and "home", and staging one's own death.
The Isabel Allende interview essay, entitled Isabel Allende Will Keep Writing From the Afterlife was brilliant, and I highlighted/shared several notes from it.
kge's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
great essays! very readable and glowing writing style, v enjoyable
greeniezona's review
4.0
Ordered this from Restless Books because the description was intriguing, and I was looking to read more Latin American authors. It is a ridiculous and unintended coincidence that this was the 69th book I read this year.
This was a fascinating collection of essays from an intriguing author. The essay topics were varied but most touched on sex and gender -- but there is also the prison system, immigration and identity, contemplation of death, and parenting. It's hard to identify stand-outs because I feel like I'd be listing most of the essays. I did wish sometimes for a little more context -- a foreword or afterword with a little biographical info to connect the spaces in between the essays (most of which were incredibly personal) and for some information about the publications she wrote for -- the way some of her more "scandalous" pieces were received.
I loved the honesty and vulnerability in her writing, the strength of her voice, her openness to new ideas, experiences, viewpoints. I would love to learn more about Wiener and read more of her writing.
This was a fascinating collection of essays from an intriguing author. The essay topics were varied but most touched on sex and gender -- but there is also the prison system, immigration and identity, contemplation of death, and parenting. It's hard to identify stand-outs because I feel like I'd be listing most of the essays. I did wish sometimes for a little more context -- a foreword or afterword with a little biographical info to connect the spaces in between the essays (most of which were incredibly personal) and for some information about the publications she wrote for -- the way some of her more "scandalous" pieces were received.
I loved the honesty and vulnerability in her writing, the strength of her voice, her openness to new ideas, experiences, viewpoints. I would love to learn more about Wiener and read more of her writing.
liesbethvv's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
It’s always hard to give a rating to an essay collection and this one was no different. I would definitely check the trigger warnings for this collection, because it broaches quite some heavy topics. Don’t let the title lead you to believe this book only contains sexual content, because the topics vary greatly and are not chronologically ordered (in order of Gabriela Wiener writing them). Some of them bored me (the Allende one), others irked me (the one about prostitution and trans people) but others were thoughtful and loving.
Enter at your own risk!
(Note: I read this with a bookclub and we noticed this English re-edition is not just a translation of the original Spanish collection, but actually contains a different set of essays (with some overlap) and less context and some other adaptations)
Enter at your own risk!
(Note: I read this with a bookclub and we noticed this English re-edition is not just a translation of the original Spanish collection, but actually contains a different set of essays (with some overlap) and less context and some other adaptations)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Abortion and Deadnaming
Minor: Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Transphobia