Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation

Bloody funny and emotional but also bloody long. I genuinely really enjoyed it but I do wish some parts were edited down just a liiiittle bit more, but I can see with a story this personal it must've been hard to cut it down. If you liked Nanette then you'll obviously like this.

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erebus53's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a book I find it really hard to review. For starters If you don't know who Hannah Gadsby is, you probably ought to see the Netflix version of Nanette first. It provides a lot of context that you would probably gain insight from. I'm really grateful that this version of the book is narrated by the author. I think it would lose a lot of its oomph if someone else was narrating it for her.. it just wouldn't fit.

Nanette and the story of the creation thereof, is an exercise (exorcise) in trauma, in violence and exclusion meted out upon a Neurodivergent (in her case Autistic ADHD) lesbian woman from Tasmania (in Australia). There is profanity and no holds barred descriptions of medicalised womanhood, sexual assault, rape, bad dad jokes, and physical violence. The whole thing is designed to be in your face, because too may people just don't engage with the things that happen to you if you are underprivileged.

As a result this book is full of jabs at cis-het-white-men.. but that is because it's less problematic to "punch up" than down. Gadsby is deliberately seeking to subvert the form of comedy, to parody the man-and-the-mic standup look, and to kick the audience in the gut with a bit of a wakeup call.

Yes of course I am biased. I'm also a vagina wielding Autistic f*** up. I know how it is. Life doesn't ever really stop breaking you, but you do tend to learn survival skills along the way. I own my privilege.. there are plenty of things that I have going for me that mean that people take me seriously. I'm not brown, I spell conventionally.. I can define conventionally.. my parents were both together in their own home before my mother died and I inherited enough to buy my own mortgage (lucky me!) So yes, I am biased in my opinion of this book, but I like to think that it's because I am the target audience. I see my like, in Hannah Gadsby. She's about my age, also brought up in the Antipodes, and she wrote this book for the brethren and sistren who have also dealt with being othered for their sex, gender, presentation, sexual orientation, neurotype, sensitivities, and benign differences.

Bloody good book.

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ldysylvanas's review against another edition

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5.0

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sarahelem's review against another edition

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5.0

What a bloody fantastic read. I loved Nanette and reading Gadsby's mémoir solidified my appreciation and love for this comedian and author (and human). The way she talks about misogyny in comedy, queer rights, and neurodiversity is poignant and provides essential content on these matters. A must read, in my opinion.

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travelseatsreads's review against another edition

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4.0

I knew absolutely nothing about Hannah Gadsby when I saw Ten Steps to Nanette pop up on Netgalley and once I read the blurb I instantly knew I wanted to know more.

Ten Steps to Nanette is Hannah's brutally honest memoir where she openly talks about her unusual childhood growing up in Tasmania, where it was illegal to be gay until 1997, her uphill battle to attain her ASD diagnosis as an adult, a mountain of trauma she experienced, her life as a comedian and all the funny nitty gritty bits in-between.

This isn't an easy read by any means and I spent huge sections spiraling from crying with laughter to tears of genuine sorrow at some of Hannah's experiences. But, what is clear is that Hannah has an amazingly powerful and poignant story to tell which everyone needs to hear and learn from. It's not doom and gloom as Hannah has a real talent in making even the darkest of situations have some comedic value. So do yourself a favour and go watch Nanette on Netflix and then pick up Ten Steps to Nanette on audiobook for a truly enlightening giggle.

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madisonfrank's review against another edition

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5.0

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melissacushman's review against another edition

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5.0

Powerful, amazing read. Simultaneously funny and devastating, informative, entertaining, and horrifying. All the stars, along with all the triggers warnings

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lou_o_donnell's review against another edition

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5.0

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