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andforgotten's review against another edition
5.0
After an admittedly slow start (a long stretch of exposition, focusing much more on Zambreno's marriage than the Heroines the book is titled for), once I got about 1/4 in, I was really in. It picks up considerable speed after that, evolving into some sort of maelstrom that sucks you (or sucked me, in any case) in and had me glued to my kindle for hours finishing the last third this morning.
Again, I was offered a whole lot of names of women writers to investigate further, but there's also plenty of discussion of the ones I know, creating a mixture that was perfect for me. Heroines establishes a history of female writers, focusing on the modernists, on the wives of famous authors who were not allowed to expand their own writer selves, but it then casts out a wider net, looking beyond the early 20th century, leaving a trail of names like breadcrumbs, and ending with a fierce defense of female blogging, which in turn legitimizes the self-involved and intimately personal beginnings of the book.
Again, I was offered a whole lot of names of women writers to investigate further, but there's also plenty of discussion of the ones I know, creating a mixture that was perfect for me. Heroines establishes a history of female writers, focusing on the modernists, on the wives of famous authors who were not allowed to expand their own writer selves, but it then casts out a wider net, looking beyond the early 20th century, leaving a trail of names like breadcrumbs, and ending with a fierce defense of female blogging, which in turn legitimizes the self-involved and intimately personal beginnings of the book.
lucyc's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
katmackie's review against another edition
4.0
If [b:Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own|22889766|Spinster Making a Life of One's Own|Kate Bolick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438054638s/22889766.jpg|42459922] is about moving through the world alone as a woman, then Heroines is it's polemic cousin. Zambreno defends her "awakeners," as Kate Bolick would call them, but instead of women who succeeded in and inspired solitude, these are heroines who fought suppression in society and their partnerships.
Kate Zambreno examines this suppression in comparison to her own life and role as a wife. I love stories that bring the past into the contemporary realm, as Zambreno does with the modernist wives in Heroines. Honest and hard to label, this is a work of literary criticism as much as it is a memoir. It ends with a powerful call to action for women to write. To get get themselves on paper without fear or worry. Her defense of the diary is critical and extremely relevant. Often seen as girlish and unserious, Zambreno rallies to combat this idea and to move forward as our own heroines. It's an inspired ending that I won't soon forget.
Kate Zambreno examines this suppression in comparison to her own life and role as a wife. I love stories that bring the past into the contemporary realm, as Zambreno does with the modernist wives in Heroines. Honest and hard to label, this is a work of literary criticism as much as it is a memoir. It ends with a powerful call to action for women to write. To get get themselves on paper without fear or worry. Her defense of the diary is critical and extremely relevant. Often seen as girlish and unserious, Zambreno rallies to combat this idea and to move forward as our own heroines. It's an inspired ending that I won't soon forget.
yung_sch0lar's review against another edition
4.0
So I should not have read this because I have like roughly 3.4 million things I should actually be reading by way of thesis research BUT, I did it and I can't take it back now. It was brilliantly written, repetitive--but in the way that any extended essay about how women have been consistently devalued, overlooked, and abused throughout the course of history is going to be repetitive--and weirdly encouraging. There is an alternative canon out there! This is just one of them, there are thousands more! We can make our own canons, we are making them now. Constantly. Everyday. Even though it was somewhat irresponsible of me to shirk my researching duties to read this for fun, I think Heroines is going to be more impactful now than it would be any other time in my life.
One weirdly personal quibble: Nina Simone is on the cover but there's only like one line about her in the book. Which is weird because her story is pretty fitting with the theme. But anyway, that's not even a criticism.
Also, I really liked the blending of theory, history, and personal voice.
One weirdly personal quibble: Nina Simone is on the cover but there's only like one line about her in the book. Which is weird because her story is pretty fitting with the theme. But anyway, that's not even a criticism.
Also, I really liked the blending of theory, history, and personal voice.
huncamuncamouse's review against another edition
4.0
So much of this was scorchingly insightful. But I did find that there was a degree of unnecessary, occasionally tiring repetition (the same points and anecdotes surfacing again and again). The loose structure was mostly successful, but sometimes I felt this move accounted for some of the aforementioned repetition and some points of confusion. For example, It was sometimes hard to keep track of the writers she was discussing when they were referred to by their first names. And I do wish that more personal material balances the literary analysis. What was here was great: I was just left desiring more. And I found it a bit strange that we only learn Zambreno’s “toxic girl” (her words) origin story so close to the end. Ultimately, though, I learned a lot and identified with much of the text. I would not hesitate to recommend this book.
But oh how I wish she’d had a better editor and a cover that actually does the book justice.
But oh how I wish she’d had a better editor and a cover that actually does the book justice.
h1914's review against another edition
3.0
“What does it mean to be aware of one’s own preservation? To preserve the self. I save myself, my days. This archive of the self. These women who haunt me, I want to save them too, to carry them forward with me.”