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nstew16's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Very accessible. At times it felt almost too casual for me, but I think that is part of the success of the book. It can reach a variety of people and acts as an open ended conversation between reader/author.
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abortion
aburns2's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
randeerebecca's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
1.0
This book basically feels like the author is being an apologist for “monstrous” behavior without coming right out and saying it because she’s a self-proclaimed feminist. I see her feminism, but I think it’s very simplistic and minimally intersectional. She starts the book off by arguing that use of the word “monster” for men who are abusers (i.e. Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, etc.) is so that as individuals, we don’t need to acknowledge our own potential for those kinds of behaviors. Which is an interesting perspective, but also a flimsy excuse. At times, it seemed like the author was arguing this point simply to make herself feel better about continuing to consume art when she felt guilty doing so because of the creator’s crimes and behaviors. She also goes on to blame the internet because now people have to know that their beloved cultural icons have done horrible things - it seems to me she’d rather live in ignorance? There’s a simple solution, of course. The author personally does not have to engage with social media, the very thing she blames.
There were a few bits that really felt yucky to me:
- criticizing queer kids’ use of tumblr for “unbodied connection” with fandoms. Tell me you’re not queer without telling me? This is so ignorant of how isolating it can be to exist as queer, especially in small communities, and how important it can be to connect with others like you over something meaningful. But it’s wild because she later talks about being a weird kid needing connection and she got that from David Bowie music and fans? So she clearly understands the need, but maybe not the context.
- Listed men who have been found to be abusive and pedophilic as examples of cultural “monsters,” and THEN followed that by listing women who had mental health problems and said “does self harm count?”
- On Picasso’s abusive behavior towards women: “Picasso is the victim of, the servant to, his own impulses.”
- Implied that the reason society went after Woody Allen and Roman Polanski for their pedophilia is because they are Jewish and our society is anti-Semitic… not because they assaulted children or anything…
- Sylvia Plath is included in this book on cultural “monsters” because her suicide was a “violent act” against patriarchy, supposedly. The reality is that she was clinically depressed in the midst of heartbreak. The author does state that Plath was not a monster, so why is she even included in this discussion?
- She conflates recovery from addiction to someone needing support for their “monstrous” behavior (i.e. pedophilia, abuse, violence)
The message at the end, summed up: we’re all monsters and all victims and what we do doesn’t make a difference anyway, so consume the media created by perpetrators 👎🏻
I will give her this: she made a point to say that memoir should be description and not prescription, meaning she doesn’t feel a person’s views espoused in their memoir(s) should automatically be taken as life advice by readers. Which is good, because I certainly won’t with hers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Abandonment
claraarianne's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment
butlerebecca's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Murder
hduc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book deals with monstrous people. Of course there will be disturbing stories. But fear not, take one or two pages at a time. You would come out of this book a heart lighter.
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and War
rustproofbottom's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
wow. so much to unpack in this book. I will absolutely be returning to this one again and again. it's that important and rich in thought and reflection.
at the top is a helluva swing at examining what we should do about the relationship between art we love (in all form and genre) & artist & our consumption of it in context of artists (overwhelmingly mostly men) that end up doing horrible things are could righteously be called gigantic pieces of sh+t... they are, monsters.
This is a topic that I've talked with friends about and never landing anywhere near anything that resembled a satisfying answer.
I feel like this could be 10,000 page book easily. Because this book is so much more than a take down of these people or a simple guide to rationalization. It's an open invitation to consider how your consumption of art can be a mirror into who you are. Not as a "we" or "us" that resents a broader group, culture, or society. But as individuals.
you are taken through a series of analyses and reflections that invite you to reflect on the intersection of the art that is being consumed, the artist's biography AND your own biography, not the idealic, sanitized version, the real, raw, warts and all version. The whole story - stains and all.
you're also invited to think broadly about the role of societal norms & expectations, pressures of late-stage capitalistic systems, and morals and virtues that are constantly evolving. How do they contribute to your own definition of self? How does art help inform that definition? How are your own beliefs & behaviors influenced by, caused by, supported by, identified with all of those?
Part philosophy. Part critical analysis. Part history lesson.
I love it because I was left with a ton of things to think about within myself. There's also not a prescriptive answer. There's not an empirical rubric to give a pass/fail too.
It is not a purity test. It's not transactional. It's not simple. It's relational, subjective, and evolving.
It's messy and complicated and terrible and beautiful.
Just like the human experience.
at the top is a helluva swing at examining what we should do about the relationship between art we love (in all form and genre) & artist & our consumption of it in context of artists (overwhelmingly mostly men) that end up doing horrible things are could righteously be called gigantic pieces of sh+t... they are, monsters.
This is a topic that I've talked with friends about and never landing anywhere near anything that resembled a satisfying answer.
I feel like this could be 10,000 page book easily. Because this book is so much more than a take down of these people or a simple guide to rationalization. It's an open invitation to consider how your consumption of art can be a mirror into who you are. Not as a "we" or "us" that resents a broader group, culture, or society. But as individuals.
you are taken through a series of analyses and reflections that invite you to reflect on the intersection of the art that is being consumed, the artist's biography AND your own biography, not the idealic, sanitized version, the real, raw, warts and all version. The whole story - stains and all.
you're also invited to think broadly about the role of societal norms & expectations, pressures of late-stage capitalistic systems, and morals and virtues that are constantly evolving. How do they contribute to your own definition of self? How does art help inform that definition? How are your own beliefs & behaviors influenced by, caused by, supported by, identified with all of those?
Part philosophy. Part critical analysis. Part history lesson.
I love it because I was left with a ton of things to think about within myself. There's also not a prescriptive answer. There's not an empirical rubric to give a pass/fail too.
It is not a purity test. It's not transactional. It's not simple. It's relational, subjective, and evolving.
It's messy and complicated and terrible and beautiful.
Just like the human experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment
This book examines dark, horrible behavior by people who caused a lot of harm to others sometimes with extreme violence. It is not presented in a way that is gratuitous or dramatized or dwell on them. It states supported facts plainly - which can be difficult to hear / read but is critical to the understanding the plain context of the intent of the book.readingpicnic's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I appreciated the author’s honesty throughout this book about consuming art made by people who’ve done horrible things, as well as digging into her guilt and complacency in doing so. The question of whether it’s morally good or bad or something in between to consume music, video games, and books is something I often think about myself, so I appreciated getting other perspectives on this issue where there’s not exactly a right answer. I think that some of her examples of celebrities that she named chapters after weren’t really explored as much as they could have been, while others were explored too much, like her practically explaining the whole plot of Lolita for some reason. The Lolita chapter also didn’t feel particularly relevant because it’s purely speculation about whether the author did anything bad or shared traits with the main character he wrote, so I didn’t find this chapter as strong or compelling. I also thought it was a bit weird to paint one of the woman celebrities as a monster just for giving up her baby for adoption…
I didn’t really expect an answer to the question of whether it’s okay to still consume these forms of media because it’s such an individual choice, so I wasn’t upset that she didn’t make a declaration either way. I was really interested in the chapter about Wagner and how harmful it is to say that people were “a product of their time” and that “everyone had those harmful beliefs back then” because it takes pressure off those people and excuses their behavior as being normal in the past. I hear people use this argument all the time, and I almost started to believe them, but I agree with the author in holding people of the past accountable too because there were people who held more progressive beliefs back then, and they chose to not be one of them. Although the book was a bit repetitive at times, I enjoyed the author’s writing and was pretty engaged throughout. I’m definitely going to keep thinking on this subject and be critical of whose content I’m reading/watching/listening to, as well as who I make exceptions for and why.
I didn’t really expect an answer to the question of whether it’s okay to still consume these forms of media because it’s such an individual choice, so I wasn’t upset that she didn’t make a declaration either way. I was really interested in the chapter about Wagner and how harmful it is to say that people were “a product of their time” and that “everyone had those harmful beliefs back then” because it takes pressure off those people and excuses their behavior as being normal in the past. I hear people use this argument all the time, and I almost started to believe them, but I agree with the author in holding people of the past accountable too because there were people who held more progressive beliefs back then, and they chose to not be one of them. Although the book was a bit repetitive at times, I enjoyed the author’s writing and was pretty engaged throughout. I’m definitely going to keep thinking on this subject and be critical of whose content I’m reading/watching/listening to, as well as who I make exceptions for and why.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
flissbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Antisemitism, and Abandonment
oliviaemily's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
how awful can we be before people stop loving us? i really enjoyed this musing on the perennial issue of whether art can be separated from the artist (and whether it should be). from jk rowling to joni mitchell, roman polanski to the author herself and her alcoholism, there’s a really nuanced and sensitive discussion of every type of monster. it kind of culminates in capitalism being the unavoidable issue (it doesn’t matter if you boycott, the decision is still shifted to the consumer) which i agree with but still found a bit plain. but then expands back out to conclude that, while every artist’s work is tainted by their biography, every consumer’s receipt of that art is coloured by their own experiences too. anyway it’s an ethical question without a real answer but this was a good exploration of it
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape