How do you review books that are basically someone else’s life narrative? Fat Girl Walking is Brittany Gibbon’s story, and her owning her story. I respect that, and feel no desire to take it to task. In fact, the writing is crisp and the humor sarcastic. There is little I can point to as flawed other than a few instances of casual ableism. I just didn’t like it. And since I rate by the Goodreads system, that means this book gets a single star. Perhaps […]
The Daylight Gate is Dark
Jeanette Winterson’s work is known for postmodernist lyrical prose. She has never flinched away from darkness and gore, exploring various aspects of being human, and the human past. However, this novella is not lyrical; there is no beauty in the writing to alleviate the heaviness in the lives of the characters. It’s not that the writing is poor, only that it is straightforward. In this piece historical fiction, Winterson weaves the aftermath of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot into the 1612 Pendle witch trials, with brief […]
Embrace Your Weird Self (And Other Weird Selves, Too)
I always find it difficult to review an anthology. Do you review each and every story, or just the work as a whole? The Secret Loves of Geek Girls is 288 pages of 51 diverse anecdotes, essays, comics, and some bits that seem a mix of everything (and more). Some are more expertly done than others, and some fall flat altogether. But there are some wonderful stories and graphic representations of good relationships, failed relationships, and a lot of near relationships. Even more than the […]