A review by zinelib
Off the Record, by Camryn Garrett
5.0
Josie is a high school student journalist, who has already begun her career, writing for Essence. Then she wins a contest with a mainstream magazine and gets to cover a film premier and write a cover profile of the film's young star, Marius, who is one of two Black members of the cast. Marius, like Josie, is queer, as is his character, a boy who endures conversion therapy. The film's director and headliners are straight white guys, and right away Josie, along with some other Black critics have questions the press junket organizers didn't expect.
It turns out there's a bigger story, though, an abusive director of another film who has assaulted or otherwise harassed an untold number of actors and film staff. Reporting on the abuse is scary for Josie, who herself has survived assault, not that she recognized it as assault at the time. Josie is on the tour with her older sister, Alice, who Josie doesn't get along with as well as her oldest sister, but the experience brings them closer.
Each chapter is headed by a sharp, funny, or vulnerable tweet. There's also a love story and Josie working through feelings of anxiety and concerns about her size. She's fat, unlike her sisters and all the movie stars she finds herself among.
I really loved this book and hated for it to end.
It turns out there's a bigger story, though, an abusive director of another film who has assaulted or otherwise harassed an untold number of actors and film staff. Reporting on the abuse is scary for Josie, who herself has survived assault, not that she recognized it as assault at the time. Josie is on the tour with her older sister, Alice, who Josie doesn't get along with as well as her oldest sister, but the experience brings them closer.
Each chapter is headed by a sharp, funny, or vulnerable tweet. There's also a love story and Josie working through feelings of anxiety and concerns about her size. She's fat, unlike her sisters and all the movie stars she finds herself among.
I really loved this book and hated for it to end.