rissreviews_xx's review
4.0
Hysterical is a novel that everyone should read. People’s voices are meant to be listened to and taken seriously. This novel shows the struggles and strengths of one woman.
jill's review
5.0
A memoir built from essays, Hysterical is a feminist tome that made me laugh, as much from Bassist’s deadpan humor as from that instinct to laugh off your outrage. But, as I learned from this book, I’d do better to find a way to vent my anger. The author didn’t, choosing to stay silent, or to say “yes” for years, which played a role in her insoluble, long-term pain. Misbelieved by doctors, she sought a diagnosis for a long time before finding solutions through alternative means.
I remember reading Bassist’s essay in the Roxane Gay edited collection “Not That Bad: Dispatches on Rape Culture.” Here, she tells the tale of sexual assault, as well as gender-based harassment and discrimination at work, a challenging parental dynamic. Also affecting are her journalistic unpacking of the way women are mistreated, unseen, unheard, or in other ways treated as “less than” in media, medicine, and other arenas.
Highly recommended. Be ready to feel enraged.
I remember reading Bassist’s essay in the Roxane Gay edited collection “Not That Bad: Dispatches on Rape Culture.” Here, she tells the tale of sexual assault, as well as gender-based harassment and discrimination at work, a challenging parental dynamic. Also affecting are her journalistic unpacking of the way women are mistreated, unseen, unheard, or in other ways treated as “less than” in media, medicine, and other arenas.
Highly recommended. Be ready to feel enraged.