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elle_oftheball's review
5.0
I read this book for a course, and am so thankful to the professor for assigning it. In it, Wunker offers a nuanced portrayal of the challenges and responsibility that come with being a feminist killjoy, and approaches these complexities with a surprising simplicity. A must-read.
whichthreewords's review
3.0
Not a lot that's new here, but it's well-written and engaging, and it's good to read about very recent examples.
audreybelle's review
2.5
This might be a worthwhile read if you've literally never once encountered feminist theory before, but Wunker really isn't saying anything new or radical. I only finished reading this cause I had to for class and as a 4th year women's studies minor it felt pretty infuriating to read someone misrepresent the Bechdel test (a far to common mistake) then unironically praise Justin Trudeau as a feminist king for blatantly doing the bare minimum. Wunker's clearly encountered the concept of intersectionality in the work of better feminist writers, but somehow her only method of attempting to practice it is repeatedly reminding the writer that she's a privileged white woman or just listing other groups of marginalized people who hypothetically have it harder than her without ever going any deeper with that thought process.
margaret_adams's review
I picked this up at the Book Thug table at AWP19. I hadn't heard of Wunker, though I'd heard of many of the works she draws on and responds to in this book.
"The I is an interstice, not an intersection. An opening. Not 'relatable' (a quality our freshest students so lamentably look for in almost everything), but a possibility. I invites observation at the level of the personal and the intimate without allowing the observer to mistake the observed for anything other than what it is: individuated. Familiar, sometimes, yes. Radically other, often. But I is an invitation to listen. It is an invitation to follow one body's thinking, one possibility's path."
sam_rockbrune's review
4.0
I love this book. I want to buy it (**I plan to buy it). Erin Wunker is a feminist academic (love) and wrote this book on 4-ish topics. The main three are rape culture, friendships and feminist mothering. The final part is about being an ally and Canadian issues and solidarity with MMIW protests. I really enjoyed reading that final part because it made me think, like really think about these issues.
The first part, on rape culture was your standard rape culture read. I may feel this way though because I literally read profound writings about rape culture all the time. It was truthful and I could easily relate to it. I found myself easily moving along because it was all things I agreed with. Easily agreed with.
The second part, on friendship was more difficult for me to read. Community and the magic of community is something I only realized the importance of recently. Reading this at times I found to be meh but at other times I found profoundly important.
The third section was probably the most difficult for me since I don’t have experience with it. I don’t have kids and therefore cannot really related on a personal level to the material. It was still an interesting read but I’m just not at that point yet.
I really enjoyed the perspective of being a mother, and how this book was written during that time of Wunker becoming a mother. I think it added an interesting perspective to it.
The first part, on rape culture was your standard rape culture read. I may feel this way though because I literally read profound writings about rape culture all the time. It was truthful and I could easily relate to it. I found myself easily moving along because it was all things I agreed with. Easily agreed with.
The second part, on friendship was more difficult for me to read. Community and the magic of community is something I only realized the importance of recently. Reading this at times I found to be meh but at other times I found profoundly important.
The third section was probably the most difficult for me since I don’t have experience with it. I don’t have kids and therefore cannot really related on a personal level to the material. It was still an interesting read but I’m just not at that point yet.
I really enjoyed the perspective of being a mother, and how this book was written during that time of Wunker becoming a mother. I think it added an interesting perspective to it.