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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this more than I did. Somewhere between the first essay and the last, this author flat out forgot what the point of the book was, and so did I. There were parts of it that sincerely moved me - I highlighted them, even. But even that fact couldn't save it. I had to DNF on the second to last essay because it bothered me that this author who is presumably straight, kept using the word "queer" to describe LGBT folks. Using that word is fine...IF you're LGBT. But if you aren't, maybe just use the acronym. It turned me off so much that I just put it down and said "no more."
Also no one asked for an entire chapter dedicated to the sitcom "Cheers." I don't know why this author thought that was a good idea.
Also no one asked for an entire chapter dedicated to the sitcom "Cheers." I don't know why this author thought that was a good idea.
megaden's review against another edition
3.0
Hard to rate because the essays themselves are so inconsistent. Some were extremely insightful where reading others, I was wondering how they were published in the first place. As a single women in her 30s, it was refreshing to read a book about the various takes on love. Instead of focusing on romantic love, Hopper’s essays focus on the other kinds of love: family, friends, and community. Overall I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Most of these essays are her writing about other writers or TV shows and, other than the essay about “Cheers,” they didn’t resonate with me. A major stand out was “Lean On” and I also loved the essay about reading and watching The Fault In Our Stars with her friend who had just been diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer.
abilight's review against another edition
5.0
YES. As a self-professed “leaner” myself (my friends ask me if I’m ever truly vertical), I instantly related with this wonderful collections of essays.
I skipped two chapters to avoid literary spoilers but I will eagerly read them after finishing the author’s recommendations.
I skipped two chapters to avoid literary spoilers but I will eagerly read them after finishing the author’s recommendations.
abigailcrawford's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled to get into this collection of essays. Many were based in highly specific popular culture references, which were hard to follow when I hadn't engaged with them myself (like the tv show Cheers). I appreciated the essay about cancer and circles of care, but the rest I struggled to get into.
readingrandbow's review against another edition
3.0
I loved several of these essays, enjoyed others, and yeah.... I will look for the author’s writing in the future. I also bet she’s a great teacher - her students are fortunate.
maevewolff's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
One of my favourite essay collections.
cameliarose's review
4.0
Briallen Hopper writes about her relationship with female friends and sisters. She writes about writers, books and TV shows. Above of all, she writes about women. Reading it is like talking to your long term friend who is a compassionate and intelligent, even though our background can not be more different. Like her, I too value female friendship highly. Like her, I did in the past attempt to revive a dead friendship.
My favorite essays in this collection:
-- Lean On: A Declaration of Dependence (I like to lean too. Mutual dependence is the necessity for a friendship)
-- On Spinsters (Very sharp, very thoughtful)
-- Hoarding (Collecting small objects as memory reminders is what I do all the time. Totally understand why she feels giving up things is like abandoning pieces of your past; yes, even best friends need to maintain boundary, but true friends will make it up eventually.)
-- On Sisters (sisters may be your best friends and worst enemies, but they will take you in when nobody else will)
-- Young Adult Cancer Story
-- Coasting
-- The Foundling Museum
-- Moby-Dick
Quotes:
"A family found in adulthood can never attain the involuntary intimacy of the siblings who have known you since birth, and squabbled with you in bathrooms and at breakfast tables from time immemorial. But sometimes, perhaps for this reason, a found family can know and love you for who you are - not for who you once were, or who you never were."
"I cling to the word 'spinster' in the second decade of the twenty-first century because it serves as a challenge to the way our society still conflates coupledom with love, maturity, and citizenship, while seeing unmarried people as - to quote Justice Kennedy - 'condemned to live in loneliness.' And, to borrow a phrase from second-wave historian Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, I cling to the word because it links me with my spinster sisters throughout history in a shared 'female world of love and ritual.' I cling to it and hold it close because, to riff on a refrain from Hilton Als, it's the spinsters who made me."
My favorite essays in this collection:
-- Lean On: A Declaration of Dependence (I like to lean too. Mutual dependence is the necessity for a friendship)
-- On Spinsters (Very sharp, very thoughtful)
-- Hoarding (Collecting small objects as memory reminders is what I do all the time. Totally understand why she feels giving up things is like abandoning pieces of your past; yes, even best friends need to maintain boundary, but true friends will make it up eventually.)
-- On Sisters (sisters may be your best friends and worst enemies, but they will take you in when nobody else will)
-- Young Adult Cancer Story
-- Coasting
-- The Foundling Museum
-- Moby-Dick
Quotes:
"A family found in adulthood can never attain the involuntary intimacy of the siblings who have known you since birth, and squabbled with you in bathrooms and at breakfast tables from time immemorial. But sometimes, perhaps for this reason, a found family can know and love you for who you are - not for who you once were, or who you never were."
"I cling to the word 'spinster' in the second decade of the twenty-first century because it serves as a challenge to the way our society still conflates coupledom with love, maturity, and citizenship, while seeing unmarried people as - to quote Justice Kennedy - 'condemned to live in loneliness.' And, to borrow a phrase from second-wave historian Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, I cling to the word because it links me with my spinster sisters throughout history in a shared 'female world of love and ritual.' I cling to it and hold it close because, to riff on a refrain from Hilton Als, it's the spinsters who made me."