hampton_reads's review
5.0
I have been a fan of Molly Crapabble's work (writing and art) since she began publishing on VICE. I picked up this book on a whim in a bookstore in Brooklyn because it had been on my list since weeks before its release, because I spotted a signed copy, and because the day I went into the store was the same day that a ton of kids were in the store for a children's story reading or something and I wanted to find a reliable author and get out with something enlightening as fast as possible.
I could not have anticipated this work even if I had taken a lot more thought and time to consider which book I would read next more. Molly has an incredible story and I was surprised to find just how much her voice is one that I can fully understand and feel for all that is being said. I have not at all had the same trajectory or path as Molly has, but I was thrilled to learn that we shared several methods in our art/interviews on current events. It was affirming to hear of her struggle for success in the art world, and inspiring to read of her many adventures.
Really looking forward to reading what Crabapple writes next and know that my reading of her next article will be so much further enhanced by this beautiful text (and gorgeous accompanying images).
I could not have anticipated this work even if I had taken a lot more thought and time to consider which book I would read next more. Molly has an incredible story and I was surprised to find just how much her voice is one that I can fully understand and feel for all that is being said. I have not at all had the same trajectory or path as Molly has, but I was thrilled to learn that we shared several methods in our art/interviews on current events. It was affirming to hear of her struggle for success in the art world, and inspiring to read of her many adventures.
Really looking forward to reading what Crabapple writes next and know that my reading of her next article will be so much further enhanced by this beautiful text (and gorgeous accompanying images).
latesha's review
2.0
I’m gonna be honest, this is actually a DNF for me. I picked up the book because I thought it would be cool to read about an artist. But first of all, her drawing style in the book is not exactly like the style on the cover. Then, the content of the book has less to do with her art and more to do with everything else she did? Honestly, I just couldn’t bring myself to care about any of her life story. I read half the book, and it only covered like 3 years of her life, even though I knew there was like a good 10 more years to go until present day. I had to DNF it to move on with things that actually interest me.
pbobrit's review
4.0
I'd not heard of Molly Crabapple before picking up this book, but flicking through the illustrations in this book, I knew I had seen some of her work in articles I'd read. This is an engaging and very well written memoir. The author is amazingly accomplished and has already packed in a lot into her relatively young life. I enjoyed observing her evolution both as an artist and as a writer of journalism. She writing in a very engaging style and the addition of a good number of her illustrations (which are amazing) enhances the experience. I would definitely recommend this.
aldoojeda's review
4.0
I remember the time I saw a drawing by Molly Crabapple that read "It Don't Gitmo Better Than This" and the editorial that accompanied it. I knew about the existence of this artist before, but that piece make me pay a lot more attention to her work. I've had Drawing Blood in my shelf for some time now, and after I started it I had to stop reading it shortly after. I'm glad I picked it back again.
In the first part of the book Molly tells the difficulties she had as a women, trying to live in New York and as an artist. But later, she accepts her own privilege at various protests. The whole book is inspirational, but reading it now leaves you with a bittersweet taste. More than 10 years have passed since Occupy Wallsteet (a big part of the book centers around her expirience of the movement) and nothing has really changed. Still, I leave with this quote:
"Radicals often suspect beauty of corruption. Uptight fuckers though they sometimes are, they're right in one thing: art alone cannot change the world. Pens can't take on swords, let alone Predator drones. But as disappointment and violence spread, the antidote is a generosity that the best art can still inspire".
It's time to create art that inspires generosity.
In the first part of the book Molly tells the difficulties she had as a women, trying to live in New York and as an artist. But later, she accepts her own privilege at various protests. The whole book is inspirational, but reading it now leaves you with a bittersweet taste. More than 10 years have passed since Occupy Wallsteet (a big part of the book centers around her expirience of the movement) and nothing has really changed. Still, I leave with this quote:
"Radicals often suspect beauty of corruption. Uptight fuckers though they sometimes are, they're right in one thing: art alone cannot change the world. Pens can't take on swords, let alone Predator drones. But as disappointment and violence spread, the antidote is a generosity that the best art can still inspire".
It's time to create art that inspires generosity.
periodicreader's review
4.0
Loved. This. I only knew of Molly Crabapple and her art from poking around on a few of the twitter feeds that I used to regularly stalk. She seemed to be artsy and "alternative" and very much alive. This book kind of proved all of that. She tells her story through words as well as her own artwork that is plastered throughout the pages. It was interesting and made me wish that we could be best friends. Molly Crabapple is important and should be way more famous. In an alternate universe where the media cares more about what you are saying, she would be.
ginath13's review
3.0
3.5 stars. While I was initially drawn to this book because of the artists time in Guantanamo Bay, Syria, and other politically charged environments and I find her artwork interesting and unique, I felt it spent too much time, like 2/3rds of the book, on subject matters I didn’t much care about, her time in the world of burlesque and too much time on Simon Hammerstein crass cabaret lounge where the rich and famous went to piss away their money.
ericawrites's review
4.0
The best parts of this book are her as an adult and seeing how she approaches her work. Which means it took me a while. The book ends with her work around Occupy Wall Street, Gitmo, and Syria, which felt surreal today.
melaninny's review against another edition
4.0
Listening to this book was a journey for me, in a way that I'm unused to. Molly Crabapple is a wonderfully outspoken artist and activist, with an illustrative art style and an eviscerating writing style.
When I started listening, I thought I hated her. She writes about her teen years in a painfully arrogant way. Crabapple does not deal judgment on herself for the way she thought, felt, or acted in her past--she does not analyze, or excuse, or apologize for who she was, except with a few poignant lines once in a while. When speaking of wearing her visits to Morocco as a sort of badge of honor, she says that she was using "other people’s homes as a proving ground." It took me a while to realize that this was a painfully honest way to represent her past self, and creates an authentic story of growth.
Crabapple is in her early thirties now, which means she grew up in the 90s. This is the first piece of writing I know of that treats this time period with the same nostalgia that others now ascribe to days long past. She romanticizes the past like her greatest writer heroes, creating a gritty world, as distant as it is memorable, as real as a fading photograph. Its a strange and fascinating lens with which to look at the world only twenty years past.
She talks about art as a lifeline, as real to her as her own blood. Linearly, she talks about her lovers, abortion, botched friendships, and sorry attempts at gallery openings. She's an angry and avid feminist, and treats the way women are undervalued as fact rather than speculation. It is fact, of course, but it's so rare to have someone speak about our struggles so blatantly. "When I thought of every proposition or threat that I got just walking down the street in my girl body, I decided I might as well get paid for the trouble," she says of her entry into sex work.
Over the course of the narrative Crabapple evolves from an arrogant and unhappy teenage traveler, to a struggling artist working in the sex industry, to an activist in her own right. She extols and admires her journalist friends, and in so doing, she becomes one, and makes that identity her own, becoming the inspiration that she found in others.
I listened to the audiobook, and Jorjeana Marie does an admirable job of translating the gravitas of the memoir to her narration style. I found her imperfect, however, and it was difficult to get used to her voice. Her nose sounds largely blocked and it stilts the words. If I ever return to Drawing Blood, it will probably be to physically read it, not listen this version again.
When I started listening, I thought I hated her. She writes about her teen years in a painfully arrogant way. Crabapple does not deal judgment on herself for the way she thought, felt, or acted in her past--she does not analyze, or excuse, or apologize for who she was, except with a few poignant lines once in a while. When speaking of wearing her visits to Morocco as a sort of badge of honor, she says that she was using "other people’s homes as a proving ground." It took me a while to realize that this was a painfully honest way to represent her past self, and creates an authentic story of growth.
Crabapple is in her early thirties now, which means she grew up in the 90s. This is the first piece of writing I know of that treats this time period with the same nostalgia that others now ascribe to days long past. She romanticizes the past like her greatest writer heroes, creating a gritty world, as distant as it is memorable, as real as a fading photograph. Its a strange and fascinating lens with which to look at the world only twenty years past.
She talks about art as a lifeline, as real to her as her own blood. Linearly, she talks about her lovers, abortion, botched friendships, and sorry attempts at gallery openings. She's an angry and avid feminist, and treats the way women are undervalued as fact rather than speculation. It is fact, of course, but it's so rare to have someone speak about our struggles so blatantly. "When I thought of every proposition or threat that I got just walking down the street in my girl body, I decided I might as well get paid for the trouble," she says of her entry into sex work.
Over the course of the narrative Crabapple evolves from an arrogant and unhappy teenage traveler, to a struggling artist working in the sex industry, to an activist in her own right. She extols and admires her journalist friends, and in so doing, she becomes one, and makes that identity her own, becoming the inspiration that she found in others.
I listened to the audiobook, and Jorjeana Marie does an admirable job of translating the gravitas of the memoir to her narration style. I found her imperfect, however, and it was difficult to get used to her voice. Her nose sounds largely blocked and it stilts the words. If I ever return to Drawing Blood, it will probably be to physically read it, not listen this version again.
idrees2022's review
5.0
A riveting memoir by the incomparable Molly Crabapple. As a portrait of the artist as a young woman, this surpasses Patti Smith's "Just Kids" since unlike Smith, whose stories are brought to life by celebrity cameos, Crabapple's is made compelling by the earthiness of the mostly ordinary people and their various personal or political struggles. Where Smith's book is insular, at times parochial, MC's scope is broader, ranging from the deeply personal to the global and political. The stories are presented as a succession of vignettes crafted with the same attention detail that is characteristic of MC's art. (The book is illustrated with some of her finest artwork). Once you pick it up, you'll find it impossible to put down.
audaciaray's review
4.0
Wow. There are so many different things for me to say about this book. It was an odd reading experience because Molly is a peer I have a lot of respect for, and during a chunk of years she writes about we traveled in nearby circles (full disclosure, I make a brief appearance in the book). We had slightly different experiences of the same time period but I loved seeing the early 2000s NYC through her eyes. The main thing I've been chewing on in the days since I finished reading the book is the prominence of girl loves and inspiring female artist peers in the book, it's worth the read just for the writing about those relationships - but really it's also so so much more.