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mdevlin923's review against another edition
4.0
Lindy West's experiences of being a humor writer while female and fat. Only Lindy could write about some of the terrible things people have said and done to her and still be funny.
maramergens's review against another edition
4.25
By the first chapter or so, I wasn’t sure if this book was going to resonate much with me at this point in my life. It felt like it was written in a tone that was stuck in 2016 internet humor, what folks in the 2020s might now call “cringe.” But her chapter on her abortion really brought me back in and reminded me why so much of what was being discussed in 2016 was and still is so important. Then the whole second half of the book was amazing. The last six essays or so tell a somewhat continuous story about her relationship with comedy, trolls on the internet, and the death of her father. And wow. This book is a stark reminder of how difficult it is, how much bravery it takes, simply to be a fat woman who’s not hiding. The amount of abuse she (and many others) has had to endure just for existing is unforgivable. I cried during the This American Life chapter. Humans can be incredibly cruel, and I could spend a lifetime reading hateful comments on the internet and trying to understand where that cruelty comes from. There’s so much abuse that I’ll never understand, but being able to hear one singular person own up to their mistakes and attempt to explain why they did it, makes it a little bit easier to exist in this world.
daumari's review against another edition
5.0
I saw this on a lot of to-read/pick lists last year, and it certainly lives up to the hype. I'm not that familiar with Lindy West, but I've likely read some of her Guardian pieces before and definitely listened to the This American Life episode where she talks with the internet troll who impersonated her deceased dad.
Short, brilliant collection of autobiographical essays that are unapologetic about who they are and embracing identity in the face of a world who would tear it down. Different topics will resonate with different readers (obviously), but the one that personally struck a chord was on her abortion- while every woman's experience is different, I also felt that while my actual abortion was pretty mundane, making a specific choice in my life was and is empowering. I'd have to look to old livejournal entries for specifics, but definitely had some "This is my life and my choice; who do you think you are to tell me what I should've done" feels in the aftermath that were like life preservers out of my normal depression pits.
Short, brilliant collection of autobiographical essays that are unapologetic about who they are and embracing identity in the face of a world who would tear it down. Different topics will resonate with different readers (obviously), but the one that personally struck a chord was on her abortion- while every woman's experience is different, I also felt that while my actual abortion was pretty mundane, making a specific choice in my life was and is empowering. I'd have to look to old livejournal entries for specifics, but definitely had some "This is my life and my choice; who do you think you are to tell me what I should've done" feels in the aftermath that were like life preservers out of my normal depression pits.
library_brandy's review against another edition
4.5
Feminism, pop culture, and comedy. What more could I want?