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grannywitch's review
3.0
The author and I are the same age, our experiences are similar, and we know all the same pop culture references (though she didn't mention Batman Returns and Girls Next Door which were my "enamored with the leads" repeat watches).
This was fun to read in the same bittersweet way that reminiscing about teen years that weren't actually that fun is. The author was likeable and it felt like catching up with someone you ran with in high school that had all the same experiences as you. If you're a slightly cringe millennial. I think that's the problem with this collection of essays--the experiences are not universal so the audience is super narrow. Millennials were coming of age smack in the middle of a weird transitional phase where young people suddenly, blessedly, were becoming socially and politically aware. This manifests in the way the author both overcorrects in some places (policing the way queer artists express themselves) and remains a bit problematic (clinging onto the accursed L Word as a pillar of queer womanhood by her fingernails).
This was fun to read in the same bittersweet way that reminiscing about teen years that weren't actually that fun is. The author was likeable and it felt like catching up with someone you ran with in high school that had all the same experiences as you. If you're a slightly cringe millennial. I think that's the problem with this collection of essays--the experiences are not universal so the audience is super narrow. Millennials were coming of age smack in the middle of a weird transitional phase where young people suddenly, blessedly, were becoming socially and politically aware. This manifests in the way the author both overcorrects in some places (policing the way queer artists express themselves) and remains a bit problematic (clinging onto the accursed L Word as a pillar of queer womanhood by her fingernails).
xexemang's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.0
i wrote my review on goodreads and forgot to copy it (rip)
essentially though, i didn’t really enjoy this book as much was i was hoping to. it seems more for the queer millennial audience, not a gen z audience. especially since i didn’t watch many of these shows
essentially though, i didn’t really enjoy this book as much was i was hoping to. it seems more for the queer millennial audience, not a gen z audience. especially since i didn’t watch many of these shows
kaecho's review against another edition
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
listening to this made me realize that i could write the exact same book about the 2010s, and who knows maybe i will.
this was a really solid mix of history and personal anecdote that at times is really tragic and depressing?? i came of age exactly a decade after grace perry, we were born ten years apart, and much like how i see middle schoolers who are secure in their queer identities (like, came out to their parents at 10-years-old secure), i think it's hard to think back to a time where i was technically alive and conscious where being queer was so much harder.
there's a lot of literature and history that focuses on the 20th century for a multitude of reasons, a lot of first-hand accounts, but when it comes to the 2000s the focus generally falls on the fight for the legalization of gay marriage and oppression at the hands of don't ask don't tell. i'm making a huge generalization here, because i use this platform as a diary unless i feel like ripping something to shreds, but i guess what i'm trying to say here is that the increasing occurrence of queer characters in media adds another layer to the lives of real-life people growing up, and the more examples there are of that, the more there is to say about it.
anyway this was good, i would love for there to be more books like this and i would maybe like to be someone who writes one one day.
this was a really solid mix of history and personal anecdote that at times is really tragic and depressing?? i came of age exactly a decade after grace perry, we were born ten years apart, and much like how i see middle schoolers who are secure in their queer identities (like, came out to their parents at 10-years-old secure), i think it's hard to think back to a time where i was technically alive and conscious where being queer was so much harder.
there's a lot of literature and history that focuses on the 20th century for a multitude of reasons, a lot of first-hand accounts, but when it comes to the 2000s the focus generally falls on the fight for the legalization of gay marriage and oppression at the hands of don't ask don't tell. i'm making a huge generalization here, because i use this platform as a diary unless i feel like ripping something to shreds, but i guess what i'm trying to say here is that the increasing occurrence of queer characters in media adds another layer to the lives of real-life people growing up, and the more examples there are of that, the more there is to say about it.
anyway this was good, i would love for there to be more books like this and i would maybe like to be someone who writes one one day.