Wow. This book really drags you thru most of the feelings a human can feel on a careening adventure through an alternative America, art world intrigueWow. This book really drags you thru most of the feelings a human can feel on a careening adventure through an alternative America, art world intrigue, and efforts to process the grief of losing someone you *thought* you knew.
I’m glad I read this. Thanks for the nudge to pick it up, Zach! ...more
Usually when a book is wildly popular, I am resistant to it for a long time, and then I read it and I am like "oh, ok, I can see why it has such a broUsually when a book is wildly popular, I am resistant to it for a long time, and then I read it and I am like "oh, ok, I can see why it has such a broad appeal." this one wasn't like that for me. I mean, it was fine, I guess, but by the end I felt it was overhyped and not the special tender little morsel of a book that I was hoping for. ...more
Propulsive. Couldn’t stop listening to these stories. Excellent use of lists as a literary conceit in the Auntland story. Full of so much queer yearniPropulsive. Couldn’t stop listening to these stories. Excellent use of lists as a literary conceit in the Auntland story. Full of so much queer yearning and desire, this is a sparkling and sharp gem. ...more
This is a light, breezy read, which I think we expect from celebrity memoirs. I love road trips and sapphic chaos so it was enjoyable for me. It is AbThis is a light, breezy read, which I think we expect from celebrity memoirs. I love road trips and sapphic chaos so it was enjoyable for me. It is Abby Jacobson's first non-illustrated book, and I think that is evident. However, her voice is so charming and earnest, I will read anything else she writes. I both listened to the audio book (so I could hear her narrate it) and read the eBook so I could see her drawings. She recounts her experiences in layers: the significance in her life at the moment when things happen, plus thoughtful perspective now that she has some distance. I appreciated the ways in which she compares her accomplishments with the standard social expectations for women, to get married and have kids, etc. She struggles with the tension of her need to love and be loved, but also to do her work and seize opportunity -- are these in conflict? it feels that way. It was so lovable and human. By the end of the book, I wanted very much to be her friend and console her through her heartbreak. Of course, now she is engaged to someone else, and I am wishing her a happily ever after. I hope she is The One Who Got Away to the person who broke her heart in this book....more
This book!!!!! I am going to be thinking about it and recommending it and talking about it for a long time. This was a wonderful reading experience foThis book!!!!! I am going to be thinking about it and recommending it and talking about it for a long time. This was a wonderful reading experience for me, with all the emotional valleys and peaks, heartbreak, and humor you could ask for. It is about a newly widowed woman who is raising her newborn baby after her wife died in childbirth. Kris is simultaneously the subject of a government-enforced social shaming experiment, where people who commit crimes are given extra shadows instead of prison sentences. The book explores the construction of identity, layering the ways we perceive ourselves with how others perceive us. Crane also explores different methods of resistance to the social shaming and systemic oppression in daily life, whether it is simply loving the outcasts instead of hating them, celebrating chosen family against social norms, and the many other ways we can be noncompliant and ungovernable daily. The kid in this book is a perfect character, shining brightly, always causing a ruckus, and demanding what she deserves with ferocity and wholeheartedness.
If you ever read this, Marisa Crane, thank you for writing this interesting and wonderful book. I will carry it in my heart forever....more