Reviews

Jell-O Girls: A Family History by Allie Rowbottom

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A scintillating look into family and feminism. Rowbottom doesn’t hold back as she details the lives of her grandmother, mother, and herself as they traverse what it means to be a woman. Though also looking at her family’s Jell-O empire, the focus of this book is finding oneself amidst the hardship and discovering your voice.

sarahheidmann's review

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dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

taylorcali's review against another edition

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2.0

This story had some potential but I feel like the premise/angle they took here was far reaching. Did the heirs to the Jell-O fortune really have a “family curse”? Probably not. This could happen to anyone. Especially those who didn’t seem to have to work for anything they wanted, but had the luxury to drink all day and not take care of themselves.

shereadsshedrinks's review

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3.0

Not at all what I expected. While an interesting way to do a memoir, it was overwhelmingly depressing.

tiffyboomboom's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

evaosterlee's review

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slow-paced

1.5

stephalopuff's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

Meh.

This is one of those memoirs where you're left thinking, "not everyone's story warrants a memoir". Even the portions of the book that the author examines the history of Jell-O felt shallow and forced. I honestly cannot connect the dots on what her life and the Leroy girls have in common other than a shared hometown? It all felt like a really basic women's studies essay on patriarchy, women's trauma and Jell-O.

Also, if you must, I suggest physically reading this book. The audiobook was read by the author and I had to crank it up to 1.5x speed to just put my head down and plow through this book.