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literaryinluv's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, and Classism
taryndeanne's review
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Minor: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing
kathleencoughlin's review
slow-paced
2.0
I feel like I don't know who this book was for. Purportedly young queer women (Gutowitz talk a lot about what "we" experienced), but there is so much explaining and surface level analysis that it feels like it's written for some other audience. Also, I think Gutowitz needs to investigate who this "we" is when she talks about what "we" felt and experienced in relation to celebrity culture. Seemingly women who grew up in the 90s and 2000s, but the unsaid part is that it's really middle+ class white women who had the closest experience to hers, and even that group (of which I am a part) did not have a universal experience. The overly casual/slangy style felt like another forced attempt at familiarity and quite affected as if I was reading a tumblr post instead of a book. I think the essays that were the most successful were where she really reflected on her own personal experience and relation to celebrity culture, rather than making broad generalizations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Misogyny, Car accident, and Outing
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
This was an interesting collection of autobiographical essays but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and I probably should have read the blurb more closely. However I think it was still worth the read, especially once I realised the essays were very much from Gutowitz's personal perspective rather than a more inclusive, intersectional look at sapphic pop culture. I found her writing funny for the most part but the tone does vary quite a lot, from light-hearted essays about celebrities to a few really hard-hitting ones, including her experience of an abusive relationship. A few of the pop culture references were too US-centric for me but since Gutowitz is the same age as me I did understand and appreciate most of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
felixreads0321's review against another edition
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Lesbophobia
sdupont's review
funny
medium-paced
3.75
I don’t usually read essay collections because I prefer novels or a full memoir as I find them more cohesive. That being said I did like Jill Gurowitz’s collection, some of my favorite essays were those earlier on in the book. I enjoyed reading her takes and pop culture references. For me, some of the essays dragged later on in the book but I’d still recommend this read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
daralexandria's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
mmccombs's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was GAY! It was like living inside a lesbian who is chronically online! It was really funny and honest. I sometimes felt annoyed or bored by the writing style, it’s like reading a bunch of blue checkmark comedian tweets for 200 pages. It is also a very specific lesbian pov (cis, white, millenial, Taylor Swift is secretly queer, all lesbians wear Doc Martens and want Rachel Weisz to choke them, etc etc), so I could see that being alienating to some folks. Loving women and reading about loving women is a joy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Lesbophobia
autumngk's review
funny
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This isn't my first read of this book I'll admit, it's taken me two times to really grasp the full thing. First with the physical book (I made it about 85-90% of the way through I'd estimate), and then I just went for a fresh start with the audiobook for my second time. It was my first audiobook and I was always hesitant as someone with ADHD-very tied to the belief that reading meant I had to have a book in my hand so it can ground me in my activity. But I absolutely loved it, there was a magic to it that isn't quite in the physical book, but I loved having to reference to. Memoirs & personal essays I've found to be best read both audiobook and physical copy together.
Pop culture IS a reflection of our lives: present, past, and impending future. While it's clear a queer femme identifying audience is the target majority, readers that are shying away because they're intimidated by the topics, or they don't feel included in the conversation, or for whatever reason they feel this book isn't for them: I very strongly feel you are who should be reading this book most right now. If not this book, use this as a starting point for more queer femme literature. To create a space for ourselves is not our work alone; for you to understand that we belong in your world, you have work to do as well. It is tiring, it is a lot, but it's all we need as queer people.
Much like how Gutowitz struggled with the appeal of Entourage growing up, she's delivered a very unique debut for the audience she yearned to be apart of her entire youth. Out of morbid curiosity, I watched a few episodes of Entourage for the first time while reading this book and it made think "at least my generation had Workaholics instead of this?" And it's so wonderful to be apart of Jill's audience. Not Entourage's.
Pop culture IS a reflection of our lives: present, past, and impending future. While it's clear a queer femme identifying audience is the target majority, readers that are shying away because they're intimidated by the topics, or they don't feel included in the conversation, or for whatever reason they feel this book isn't for them: I very strongly feel you are who should be reading this book most right now. If not this book, use this as a starting point for more queer femme literature. To create a space for ourselves is not our work alone; for you to understand that we belong in your world, you have work to do as well. It is tiring, it is a lot, but it's all we need as queer people.
Much like how Gutowitz struggled with the appeal of Entourage growing up, she's delivered a very unique debut for the audience she yearned to be apart of her entire youth. Out of morbid curiosity, I watched a few episodes of Entourage for the first time while reading this book and it made think "at least my generation had Workaholics instead of this?" And it's so wonderful to be apart of Jill's audience. Not Entourage's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
sadie_g's review
medium-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Lesbophobia