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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
I had expected analysis of horror movies through a queer lens and instead got emotional and deeply personal essays. I'm not unhappy with that trade-off however.
Although the essays and the way they are written can be unequal, and although I had to skip a few in order to avoid spoilers, there were enough great ones to keep me hooked. Highlights include:
- S. Trimble's evolving relationship with The Exorcist,
- Joe Vallese's powerful account of Grace to the prism of surrogacy,
- Tosha R. Taylor's musings on bring "the Wolf Man's daughter",
- Sumiko Saulson's analysis of Candyman,
- Spencer Williams' interesting way of relating to the Blair Witch,
- Sarah Fonseca's harrowing presentation of ¿Eres tú, papa?
- as well as Jude Ellison S. Doyle's opening to his Dans ma peau essay (the rest of which is also very good).
Although the essays and the way they are written can be unequal, and although I had to skip a few in order to avoid spoilers, there were enough great ones to keep me hooked. Highlights include:
- S. Trimble's evolving relationship with The Exorcist,
- Joe Vallese's powerful account of Grace to the prism of surrogacy,
- Tosha R. Taylor's musings on bring "the Wolf Man's daughter",
- Sumiko Saulson's analysis of Candyman,
- Spencer Williams' interesting way of relating to the Blair Witch,
- Sarah Fonseca's harrowing presentation of ¿Eres tú, papa?
- as well as Jude Ellison S. Doyle's opening to his Dans ma peau essay (the rest of which is also very good).
This was not what I expected, but WOW this was so good. It is a collection of essays, and as such there will be some that you will love and some that you don’t. I’m not home to pull up the chapters but off the top of my head my favorites were the essays about Jennifer’s Body & Jaws. I loved how queer stories and perspectives were intertwined with and analyzed horror that so many of us know and love.
I also learned about some lesser known horror that I had not seen before, but now I want to! It was so well done, I would highly recommend it.
I also learned about some lesser known horror that I had not seen before, but now I want to! It was so well done, I would highly recommend it.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
very interesting anthology w a variety of different methods of essay, good for non-horror consumers as well
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Me at the end of January this year: Wow, I finished 5 books, I'm going to read so much this year!
Me mid-October: OH GLOB THE LAST BOOK I FINISHED WAS TWO FREAKING MONTHS AGO WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY ATTENTION SPAN
Anyways, I have picked up SO. MANY. BOOKS. Since I finished The Lion Women of Tehran back in August. Audiobooks, eBooks, physical books, I've been trying it all, and I just can't seem to finish anything these days. I can't help but feel guilty for not reading at a faster pace, but then I think about this reel that my friend sent me saying consumerism has destroyed modern literacy, because we're all chasing a number of completed books each year, rather than truly digesting and enjoying what we're reading. So I guess all that to say that I should probably be more gentle with myself haha.
Anyways (again), I somehow made it to the end of this audiobook, determined to finish it before my book club meeting tomorrow. When I started it in September, it put me perfectly in the right spooky mood for the season - I'm just really slow. XD
Wow so much preamble today. Well, the point is, as far as anthologies go, I think this one is pretty good. There weren't too many duds. I was actually fairly impressed with the breadth of identities and intersectional queer experiences covered across the array of essays - there are Latinx authors, Black authors, even an Asian author. There are discussions of being trans, coming out, bisexuality, being queer and disabled. From the description of the book I read, I thought the essays would focus more on the relationship the queer community has with the horror genre on a broader, perhaps more historical, scale, but I wouldn't say I was disappointed that instead I got more personal testimonials of authors relating their own journeys of self-discovery to metaphors found in specific horror films.
A lot of really great queer discourse of course, but I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I would have gotten more out of the essays if I had actually seen/was familiar with the films being discussed. I believe I counted a total of three (3) films discussed in this anthology that I have actually watched - Jennifer's Body, and Jordan Peele's Us and Get Out. Honestly, I think my listening experience peaked at the Jennifer's Body essay, because that's a movie I love, and the essay was written by an author I also love, Carmen Maria Machado haha! I really loved her dissection of the fluidity of bisexuality and sexuality as a whole. But I'm not really sure what it says about my broader reading experience that this was my favorite essay, because it was pretty early in the whole collection HAHA.
One of the most interesting things I learned is that the antagonist in one of these films was originally supposed to be a child molester instead of a child murderer, and that makes the movie make a lot more sense in the way that the victims and their parents react to the aftermath?? I can't remember which movie it was (can you tell I was fighting for my life listening to this at 2x speed HAHA that instagrammer was correct in saying that consumerism is leading to the death of modern literacy), but I kinda wanted to read more about.
Okay I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts. Oof. I feel my review-writing skills are rusty. Well, hopefully I'll finish this Percy Jackson book soon (it's also good for spooky season, as it takes place during the week of Halloween) and I can exercise my writing muscles some more haha.
If you made it all the way to the end of this review, tell me what horror film I should watch in the comments below haha.
Me mid-October: OH GLOB THE LAST BOOK I FINISHED WAS TWO FREAKING MONTHS AGO WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY ATTENTION SPAN
Anyways, I have picked up SO. MANY. BOOKS. Since I finished The Lion Women of Tehran back in August. Audiobooks, eBooks, physical books, I've been trying it all, and I just can't seem to finish anything these days. I can't help but feel guilty for not reading at a faster pace, but then I think about this reel that my friend sent me saying consumerism has destroyed modern literacy, because we're all chasing a number of completed books each year, rather than truly digesting and enjoying what we're reading. So I guess all that to say that I should probably be more gentle with myself haha.
Anyways (again), I somehow made it to the end of this audiobook, determined to finish it before my book club meeting tomorrow. When I started it in September, it put me perfectly in the right spooky mood for the season - I'm just really slow. XD
Wow so much preamble today. Well, the point is, as far as anthologies go, I think this one is pretty good. There weren't too many duds. I was actually fairly impressed with the breadth of identities and intersectional queer experiences covered across the array of essays - there are Latinx authors, Black authors, even an Asian author. There are discussions of being trans, coming out, bisexuality, being queer and disabled. From the description of the book I read, I thought the essays would focus more on the relationship the queer community has with the horror genre on a broader, perhaps more historical, scale, but I wouldn't say I was disappointed that instead I got more personal testimonials of authors relating their own journeys of self-discovery to metaphors found in specific horror films.
A lot of really great queer discourse of course, but I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I would have gotten more out of the essays if I had actually seen/was familiar with the films being discussed. I believe I counted a total of three (3) films discussed in this anthology that I have actually watched - Jennifer's Body, and Jordan Peele's Us and Get Out. Honestly, I think my listening experience peaked at the Jennifer's Body essay, because that's a movie I love, and the essay was written by an author I also love, Carmen Maria Machado haha! I really loved her dissection of the fluidity of bisexuality and sexuality as a whole. But I'm not really sure what it says about my broader reading experience that this was my favorite essay, because it was pretty early in the whole collection HAHA.
One of the most interesting things I learned is that the antagonist in one of these films was originally supposed to be a child molester instead of a child murderer, and that makes the movie make a lot more sense in the way that the victims and their parents react to the aftermath?? I can't remember which movie it was (can you tell I was fighting for my life listening to this at 2x speed HAHA that instagrammer was correct in saying that consumerism is leading to the death of modern literacy), but I kinda wanted to read more about.
Okay I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts. Oof. I feel my review-writing skills are rusty. Well, hopefully I'll finish this Percy Jackson book soon (it's also good for spooky season, as it takes place during the week of Halloween) and I can exercise my writing muscles some more haha.
If you made it all the way to the end of this review, tell me what horror film I should watch in the comments below haha.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Absolutely everything I needed to read and more. Joe really puts his perspective on different horror films out there for us all to see and talks about how the film. relates to his gender and sexuality experience and how that has affected his life. Very good read.
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced