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kate_can's review
challenging
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All of the short, poetic segments (it feels wrong to call them stories, and, besides, they have the tart juiciness of an orange) in this collection are introduced with the words ‘Today I am a…’ It is a great creative writing exercise, and a way to express thoughts and feelings, but a lot of them are complicated and negative.
Many are tales of abuse, violence, sexuality and shame, with cripplingly low expectations. In Today I am a Slave, the author writes, “Except for trying to kill me every day, Pepito is pretty nice. He’s definitely getting better at it though. Surprising me now, but I am vigilant. I don’t want to die and I don’t think he wants to kill me. Yet.”
Let’s get the question of authorship out of the way. Who is xTx, and does it matter? I assume the author is female, although some segments are written from a male point of view. The first page announces, “Today I am a dedication. Today, and everyday you are my driving force. Thank you, Roxane Gay, for making me believe. Still.” Many of the themes are similar to those found in Roxane Gay’s book Bad Feminist. For example, one harrowing piece reveals, “Today I am a bulimic. I take in the world. I throw it up. Do you want to see pain? Hold on for a minute. Just one minute. That’s all it takes for me to work it back up.”
The narrator goes on to list the things she has swallowed; “An ongoing gorging since I was a girl: Frosted Flakes, a handful of bow shaped barrettes, twelve ice creams, seven fingers of my brothers’ friends inside me”. It is absolutely raw and confronting; it is shocking and emotional; it is exceptional.
She is often the gateway for someone else’s needs or frustrations. In Today I Am A Time Machine she writes, “He has made me his time machine so he can stay there. He tells me this. He wants me to open myself wide enough that he can crawl through. Go back to the boy he once was… Back to when his life wasn’t as tarnished as it is now.” She is not often considered as a person in her own right but in how she relates to others and what they can take from her. In Today I Am A Lion she confirms “It’s hard being everything for everyone when you just want to be someone else’s everything.”
But women are expected to be all things to all people, and that is exhausting, even though we should be prepared for it. “It’s easy to be a make-up artist when you’re a female. So much of what we’re meant to be is pretend anyway.” As she continues in Today I Am A Make Up Artist, she can no longer tell tall tales and make up big stuff as an adult, so she has to “resort to little things like giving the guy at Starbucks a fake name just so I can see it black Sharpied on the cup… convincing my boss I am completely on top of things, assuring my two kids that everything will be okay, telling my husband I love him.” This story switches from comic to bleak in the twist of a sentence.
There is a lot of style in these segments, but there is also deep substance. The stories that seem short and even superficial are full of meaning. Much of that meaning is grim and dark; this is an uncomfortable glimpse into a tormented mind that is trying very hard to make up.
javier00fernandez's review
5.0
Encuentro que la xTx hace un ejercicio muy interesante en Today I Am A Book . Lo que hace es que toma un personaje (que puede ser desde una persona, hasta objetos) y nos cuenta una historia a partir de este. Pero como es Alt-Lit , en vez de describir esos personajes desde afuera, lo hace en primera persona, por lo que cada historia parte : "Hoy soy... [Nombre del personaje]".
Es bacán porque son historias extremadamente cortas, pero se nota que cada texto se da en un contexto completamente distinto a la otra, y me parece súper entretenido eso de ir saltando de un mundo a otro y a otro y a otro. Por alguna razón siempre me ha gustado más eso que explorar demasiado un mismo universo. Aparte la autora tiene un estilo muy honesto con su visión de mundo, y directo para decir las cosas, me gustó mucho en la Antología de Alt-Lit por eso mismo, y haberme comprado este libro fue una apuesta que valió 100% la pena, me encontré con algo que superó TODAS mis expectativas :3
(Aunque hubo cuentos meh, y cuentos que no entendí, tanto como hubo cuentos 188338/10 que enmarcaría y colgaría en mi pieza)
Es bacán porque son historias extremadamente cortas, pero se nota que cada texto se da en un contexto completamente distinto a la otra, y me parece súper entretenido eso de ir saltando de un mundo a otro y a otro y a otro. Por alguna razón siempre me ha gustado más eso que explorar demasiado un mismo universo. Aparte la autora tiene un estilo muy honesto con su visión de mundo, y directo para decir las cosas, me gustó mucho en la Antología de Alt-Lit por eso mismo, y haberme comprado este libro fue una apuesta que valió 100% la pena, me encontré con algo que superó TODAS mis expectativas :3
(Aunque hubo cuentos meh, y cuentos que no entendí, tanto como hubo cuentos 188338/10 que enmarcaría y colgaría en mi pieza)
werdfert's review
3.0
I am happy I read these stories. Well, maybe "happy" is the wrong word. I am sad I read these stories, in the sense that they left me with a kind of wistful emptiness.
daneekasghost's review
5.0
The first thing I've really read by xTx and I am in love with her language. The stories were short, the sentences direct, but everything has something moving just beneath the story. It's the kind of thing that really gets me, every time.
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