erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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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anomiques's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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jnlundy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0


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kadtide's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0


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beccaruthe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

Thanks to Random House for the free copy of this book.

 - TEN STEPS TO NANETTE is one of the best memoirs I've ever read. Hannah Gadsby is both funny and vulnerable, thoughtful and pulling no punches.
- I admired the way she navigated talking about some of the horrible things she has lived through, taking a stance of "you need to know about this event for storytelling purposes, but that does not entitle you to every last detail."
- I highly recommend the audiobook, read by Gadsby herself. You get the comedic timing and the emotional impact of her live shows, plus audio clips of her performing are added into the audio where relevant. 

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jeremy_bearimy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Recommend the audiobook, which also includes clips from Nanette.

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