maddiereadswords's review against another edition
dark
sad
3.0
I really struggled with how to give this book a star rating because the thing is, this is not a good or fun book. The author admits in the introduction that it's poorly written and not very good (which I tend to agree with), but at the same time, it was a really powerful experience, I'm not even gonna lie. This book is the first lesbian pulp novel, and the success it found within the community despite the tragic story is nothing short of profound. Like, 70 years ago, this book taught so many lesbians that they weren't alone, and now decades later, it serves as a powerful reminder of how far the community has come (while also still having real and depressing resonance today.)
I absolutely would not recommend this book to almost anyone. It is depressing and hard to read, and the ending is just so bleak that I can't imagine anyone sitting down and actively enjoying it. That being said, I'm really glad that I read this. Wouldn't do it again!! But I'm glad I can say that I did.
I absolutely would not recommend this book to almost anyone. It is depressing and hard to read, and the ending is just so bleak that I can't imagine anyone sitting down and actively enjoying it. That being said, I'm really glad that I read this. Wouldn't do it again!! But I'm glad I can say that I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual violence, Car accident, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Sexism, and Misogyny
nowheretopark's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
3.75
The intro is absolutely worth reading. And if that intrigues you enough, read on. It is incredibly depressing, and graphically violent, physically and emotionally.
shrewdbard's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
In 1952, Marijane Meaker came to her editor with the idea of writing a novel about the lesbian experience. He agreed, but with one very important stipulation: the book could not end happily. She was not allowed to portray homosexuality as “right” in any way. He also did not believe the book would be a success in any way. They slapped a photo of two pinup girls on the cover and sent it to print, hoping it would sell on titillation alone.
It was a bigger success than either of them expected, but not in the way Meaker’s editor intended. They received an outpouring of fanmail from women who had never seen themselves on the shelves of bookstores before.
Spring Fire gave birth to an entire genre of lesbian pulp fiction, and the very many tragic endings they met. Women going crazy, women gone murderous, women dying terribly. Most of Spring Fire’s progeny ranges from vapid, soft core porn to moralistic schlock, so imagine my surprise when I read this book, and found a deeply earnest portrayal of the isolation and ardors of gay women’s lives. From the very first page, when I read her description of Mitch, I realized I was in for something much different than I initially imagined.
Meaker admits herself in the foreword that this book isn’t very well written, and I have to agree. (In fact, it’s arguable that the foreword is the best part of the book.) But there’s still a sincerity to Mitch and Leda’s stories that gives this book credible weight, and makes the homophobic ending all the more saddening to read. If you’re interested in the history of popular gay fiction, I recommend this. It’s an interesting piece of history, and somewhat arresting to see how far we’ve come.
It was a bigger success than either of them expected, but not in the way Meaker’s editor intended. They received an outpouring of fanmail from women who had never seen themselves on the shelves of bookstores before.
Spring Fire gave birth to an entire genre of lesbian pulp fiction, and the very many tragic endings they met. Women going crazy, women gone murderous, women dying terribly. Most of Spring Fire’s progeny ranges from vapid, soft core porn to moralistic schlock, so imagine my surprise when I read this book, and found a deeply earnest portrayal of the isolation and ardors of gay women’s lives. From the very first page, when I read her description of Mitch, I realized I was in for something much different than I initially imagined.
Meaker admits herself in the foreword that this book isn’t very well written, and I have to agree. (In fact, it’s arguable that the foreword is the best part of the book.) But there’s still a sincerity to Mitch and Leda’s stories that gives this book credible weight, and makes the homophobic ending all the more saddening to read. If you’re interested in the history of popular gay fiction, I recommend this. It’s an interesting piece of history, and somewhat arresting to see how far we’ve come.
claire60's review against another edition
2.0
If you want to understand more about how toxic life was in the 50's for women, especially if you were lesbian or bisexual, then this is the book for you. Also shines a light on college campus and the fraternity/sorority systems of privilege, a truly grim read.
weetziebot's review against another edition
4.0
you know that song by the Bee Gees, "Tragedy"? This book is kind of like that.
bundy23's review against another edition
DNF. 25%. Badly written and just not my thing. The introduction was interesting though.
stevia333k's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
like mainly the reason to read this book is to learn about outdated standards people still get held too & people in our community have been held to. if this was a romance then this would get 3 or less stars. there's more sexual assault scenes than there are romance scenes. (in fact, the commentary is that assault is normalized as the default.) the book breathes with marry-or-die, there's discussions about conversion torture, the F/F couple doesn't get a happy ending, though ones were proposed in one of the characters imaginings. this is also a commentary on institutions, pushout, patriarchy & classism, so my review will focus more on those elements of social commentary & navigating institutions. i should mention that the bluebloodedness of the class analysis means there's almost no characters of color, which is why this isn't a 5 star book since as I read this book I gave less a shit about the romance & more about the institutional abuse. Fractions of a star if able, I'd give 4.25-4.5.
[placeholder for where i'll talk about that commentary:
PS I'm reading the book "complaint" by sara ahmed from 2022 november-december because I found out about it from PhilosophyTube's Catch-22 videoessay & I was able to pick it up from my local library's emedia. that book covers a lot of it with even more insight into how womxn of color get treated. but the stuff about maybe problems in building solidarity among feminists would probably be a thing to continue about.
There was also a memoir youtube video by a black woman about my age who's on spiritual tiktok, where she explains how white bourgeois people network & form their (boy's) clubs.]
there's a lot of symbolism that i missed in this book, but i caught on to enough of it & getting the vibe that things were inserted as symbols, so that might be a fun thing (for example, this book has given me ideas of doing like oracle cards but using greek letters, similar to how there are oracle runes that focus on norse letters). i mention this because the scathing critique of institutionalized courtship & the heterosexist patriarchal policies of the era suggests to me that i need to look into it. (seriously, one of the characters is named "lucifer", so. I think the book said he was a person of color, but it's kind of vague. For example, he also mentioned being Russian & as someone in 2022 I'm not clear on what that means because of how young the USSR was. Considering the red scare went after both communists & anti-racists, it seems as if he's some sort of blurry caricature.)
---
Epsilon as a greek letter in STEM is used to talk about membership. It's also used in Coulombs Law to model how well electrical charges are attracted/repelled from each other
Sigma is used to talk about summation
Delta is used to talk about change
Rho is used for density, resistivity, something about organism cell regulation, and something about statistics i don't understand.
[placeholder for where i'll talk about that commentary:
PS I'm reading the book "complaint" by sara ahmed from 2022 november-december because I found out about it from PhilosophyTube's Catch-22 videoessay & I was able to pick it up from my local library's emedia. that book covers a lot of it with even more insight into how womxn of color get treated. but the stuff about maybe problems in building solidarity among feminists would probably be a thing to continue about.
There was also a memoir youtube video by a black woman about my age who's on spiritual tiktok, where she explains how white bourgeois people network & form their (boy's) clubs.]
there's a lot of symbolism that i missed in this book, but i caught on to enough of it & getting the vibe that things were inserted as symbols, so that might be a fun thing (for example, this book has given me ideas of doing like oracle cards but using greek letters, similar to how there are oracle runes that focus on norse letters). i mention this because the scathing critique of institutionalized courtship & the heterosexist patriarchal policies of the era suggests to me that i need to look into it. (seriously, one of the characters is named "lucifer", so. I think the book said he was a person of color, but it's kind of vague. For example, he also mentioned being Russian & as someone in 2022 I'm not clear on what that means because of how young the USSR was. Considering the red scare went after both communists & anti-racists, it seems as if he's some sort of blurry caricature.)
---
Epsilon as a greek letter in STEM is used to talk about membership. It's also used in Coulombs Law to model how well electrical charges are attracted/repelled from each other
Sigma is used to talk about summation
Delta is used to talk about change
Rho is used for density, resistivity, something about organism cell regulation, and something about statistics i don't understand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Bullying, Medical trauma, Outing, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gore, Dementia, Racial slurs, and Racism
eddieharrison's review against another edition
3.0
Embarassing to all contemporary pulp how well the romance is written. Sort of an incredible little time capsule.
jored's review against another edition
2.0
This was a difficult read. Really interesting historically, but storywise it was frustrating, repetitive and the main characters were flat to unlikeable. It started off ok-ish, but the small amount of character development that happened in the first half of the book was non-existent in the second half of the book.
I know that the book was immensely popular when it was released, but I really wonder how queer women in the 50s
felt after reading this.
I know that the book was immensely popular when it was released, but I really wonder how queer women in the 50s
felt after reading this.