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seeingplaid's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Author puts a lot of her own experience in a book about famous artists who are monsters and has a few moments of pretentiousness I was not wild about. But this is an interesting meditation on how fans interact with media and art when the artist who makes those works has done something so outside our values it affects our relationship to the art. Feminism is an important lense the author uses.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, Pedophilia, and Suicide
hedgielib's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, and Alcohol
jayisreading's review
informative
medium-paced
2.0
I wish this essay collection worked for me, given my interest in the topic. but I found it rather disappointing. I think the questions that Dederer wanted to address are crucial ones for all of us to contend with. Can you actually separate art from the artist? Is it ethical to consume media by problematic (or “stained,” as she describes it) people, some of whom are labeled geniuses? How should we be engaging with problematic media, if at all?
I will say that I think it’s a little unfair to expect concrete answers from her, considering that it’s a bit more complicated than giving a simple “yes” or “no” response. However, a reader only has so much patience for any amount of waffling; by the third or fourth chapter, I was tired of it. I think it’s fine if an author wants to take a moment to think about a particular topic on-page, but they need to give the reader a reason to stick around for it. In other words, what’s at stake? Why should we care? Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a point to any of these essays that gave me any indication as to why what Dederer wrote mattered. She had numerous missed opportunities to do in-depth analyses with the issues she raised. Instead, she provided a lot of surface-level observations that gave the reader very little to work with, other than to quizzically wonder, “Why should I care about your feelings over your favorite artist being problematic?” Relatedly, I saw a few reviewers comment that this book reads more like a memoir, which I’m inclined to agree with, especially when one takes into account the handful of personal anecdotes that Dederer hardly connected (if at all) to the topic at hand. In addition, I felt that she often failed to give enough context when she called a number of individuals “monsters.” Sure, readers could do separate research on some of the mentioned figures in the book to learn more about their wrongdoings, but part of an essayist’s responsibility is to provide even some of that context and nuance.
Again, the questions posed in this book are important ones. However, I think Dederer could have afforded to spend more time with these essays to better establish the points she wants to make, as well as to reorganize her ideas so that they are more closely connected.
Note: Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a finished paperback copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Death, Transphobia, and Suicide
dinocraniac's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Book with a topic made for me! Separating the art from the artist has always been such a struggle for me. Dederer's book was so captivating and most of the time I didn't want to stop reading. However, there were parts that were incredibly uncomfy to read. Such a jarring and horrifying opening to the book. Like actually an insane way to open a book. And the whole chapter about Lolita. Ending was a bit weak as well, at least the second to last chapter. Throughout the book it annoyed me how she kept saying "we", only to be like "not we, I". She would correct herself and then keep doing it like please get your shit together. But anyway. Overall a really good book, highly reccomend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
kirstym25's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism and Infidelity
milanaaaah's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
What do we do with the monsters who create art we love? What do we do with the monsters we love? We do we do with the monster in ourselves?
Content Warnings
Minor: Pedophilia, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, and Alcoholism
inlibrisveritas's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
If you're going into this looking for an answer on how to deal with the monsters in our media, you won't find one. This is very much a personal look at how the author views and deals with it, and how as a collective it's not an easy answer to form.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Addiction
hduc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book deals with monstrous people. Of course there will be disturbing stories. But fear not, take one or two pages at a time. You would come out of this book a heart lighter.
Content Warnings
Minor: Pedophilia, Self harm, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Genocide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse
mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition
medium-paced
1.5
Upon discovering this I was really intrigued - the question of ethics and morality in separating the art from the artist is one I spend a lot of time thinking about. However- and people have gone more in depth with their review than I have the energy for after spending 10 hours listening to the author ponder this- this is unorganized and messy and upon reflection, this being a memoir is confusing and ultimately weakens a lot of the point. Because it’s trying to answer one overarching question, it dangerously compares “monsters” who an*lly r*pe 10 year olds to alcoholics? or women who “abandon” their children? (give them up for adoption or who work?)
It’s not that nothing ever made sense- she had a lot of takes that I agreed with - but honestly and truly this ended up reading like a woman who still has a lot of guilt and who has healing to do over her own life's actions. There is a lot of projection even and most especially when she is explicitly trying not to. There’s a lot of white woman guilt too it seems.
Most of all I hated her emphasis on peoples bad deeds creating a “stain” on their past and future actions…and there was a fucked up sentence regarding Michael Jackson when she first presented this concept…but anyway, the whole stain thing made her comparisons even more wild. Sylvia Plath’s suicide (her stain) and Woody Allen’s abuse of woman (his stain) are two completely different things.
And then she ends everything with mentioning how there are “monsters” in our lives that we still love. Like yes but…arent we talking about artists we don’t personally know and never will? So why are you ending it with “its all love yall” ???
I think this is a nuanced topic with lots to be said, and she says some of it, but her zooming in and out and in and out without thoughtful connection irritated me. She also doesn’t really discuss the question of platforming or financially supporting (ie buying merchandise or making the person money) a “monster” who is very much alive, which I think is an important piece of this whole fucking thing!
I cannot recommend this, especially the audio, and I can see how this would trigger a lot of people.
It’s not that nothing ever made sense- she had a lot of takes that I agreed with - but honestly and truly this ended up reading like a woman who still has a lot of guilt and who has healing to do over her own life's actions. There is a lot of projection even and most especially when she is explicitly trying not to. There’s a lot of white woman guilt too it seems.
Most of all I hated her emphasis on peoples bad deeds creating a “stain” on their past and future actions…and there was a fucked up sentence regarding Michael Jackson when she first presented this concept…but anyway, the whole stain thing made her comparisons even more wild. Sylvia Plath’s suicide (her stain) and Woody Allen’s abuse of woman (his stain) are two completely different things.
And then she ends everything with mentioning how there are “monsters” in our lives that we still love. Like yes but…arent we talking about artists we don’t personally know and never will? So why are you ending it with “its all love yall” ???
I think this is a nuanced topic with lots to be said, and she says some of it, but her zooming in and out and in and out without thoughtful connection irritated me. She also doesn’t really discuss the question of platforming or financially supporting (ie buying merchandise or making the person money) a “monster” who is very much alive, which I think is an important piece of this whole fucking thing!
I cannot recommend this, especially the audio, and I can see how this would trigger a lot of people.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Addiction, Rape, Alcoholism, and Abandonment
dubtronius15's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Racism