Reviews

Shrill by Lindy West

hilaryelle's review

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5.0

Funny, insightful, and delightfully human...an awesome read for anyone perfecting the art of being a nasty woman.

lena_taco's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Whew.

triciajohara's review

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

juliabodson's review

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2.0

This book was disappointing and underwhelming compared to Lindy's other amazing work in the New York Times and other news publications.

ekunes's review

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emotional funny medium-paced

5.0

megtropolitan's review against another edition

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funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

shelbyelby's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced

4.5

chrissiewithanie's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

1.0

caitgriff's review

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5.0

Lindy West gives an extraordinarily honest look into her life as a fat, white, feminist. She's incredibly articulate writer who manages to express complex thoughts and emotions with humor, brevity, and humility.

tiarala's review

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5.0

The number of ways Lindy West's experiences parallel my own feels almost creepy. Then again, maybe it's because my experience is not that unusual, and there's a kind of power in that. But from growing up fat and being told I would probably never be loved because of it, to finding a crazy handsome partner who servers continually presume is my friend and certainly not my husband (so… is this… together?), to watching our dads die in remarkably similar scenes, her story affects me. But it goes beyond that.

What I've learned the most from her over the last few years of following her, is that loving myself, who I am *as I am*, is an act of defiance. There is not a thin person inside of me waiting to get out. I have value *as I am* and I'm allowed to feel beautiful. Great photos of me are not a fluke. I'm hella cute and I'll own it! I am happy as I am. This simple statement has changed my life since I began believing it, and West's voice has been one of the most influential. Shrill is validation. Shrill is "you are not alone, and maybe haven't ever been but we're all told to suffer in silence because no one wants to hear our voices".