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mellowbry's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Likes:
- Hauntingly beautiful imagery and writing overall
- Taught me a new lens to read Herculine’s story
Dislikes/ Wished Was Better:
- Biological and scientific metaphors and symbolism limited my understanding of some sections
- Spelling errors (little but still noticeable)
jskstarr's review against another edition
2.0
I really hated this book. It was well written but maybe because I'm intersex too I was too close to the subject of the poetry to feel anything other than ugly from reading it. There's only so many times you can read references to intersex bodies being full of black slime before you just want to rip your own skin off to clean your soul underneath because it makes you feel dirty.
actualspinster's review
content notes 4 this review: coercive medical procedures, suicide, vomit, bodies/body gore,
i can't rate this because on the one hand yes! good!! everyone should read this in some form!! maybe not all of it because.... on the other hand, this was Very Obviously written by someone doing a Phd so into academia that they think more words = more profundity and more cleverness when in reality that is not the case.
here is a list of things this was about:
Bodies!!
intersex people, specifically the author, aaron and the person he is writing to, Herculine, a 19th century intersex person who was operated on and subsequently committed suicide.
shame
connections/sex[in the act way but also in the body way]
nakedness in all sense
Philosophy
death,
monstrosity-ish,/deformity,
slime
vomit
grotesqueness
body histories
medical histories and oppression
slugs,
trauma and grief
suicide
writing
slurs against intersex people
also just a heads up there is an image of Herculine's body that is repeated throughout this and it is very sad because that is all they have of them - only the medicalised, oppressive and disgusting approach to Herculine's body and no other thing.
so yes. i dont know what else to say/ how to talk about this but i hope this makes sense
i can't rate this because on the one hand yes! good!! everyone should read this in some form!! maybe not all of it because.... on the other hand, this was Very Obviously written by someone doing a Phd so into academia that they think more words = more profundity and more cleverness when in reality that is not the case.
here is a list of things this was about:
Bodies!!
intersex people, specifically the author, aaron and the person he is writing to, Herculine, a 19th century intersex person who was operated on and subsequently committed suicide.
shame
connections/sex[in the act way but also in the body way]
nakedness in all sense
Philosophy
death,
monstrosity-ish,/deformity,
slime
vomit
grotesqueness
body histories
medical histories and oppression
slugs,
trauma and grief
suicide
writing
slurs against intersex people
also just a heads up there is an image of Herculine's body that is repeated throughout this and it is very sad because that is all they have of them - only the medicalised, oppressive and disgusting approach to Herculine's body and no other thing.
so yes. i dont know what else to say/ how to talk about this but i hope this makes sense
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