Reviews - Stone Butch Blues: 20th Anniversary Author Edition

2.98k reviews for:

Stone Butch Blues: 20th Anniversary Author Edition

Leslie Feinberg, Leslie Feinberg

4.67 AVERAGE

2.98k reviews for:

Stone Butch Blues: 20th Anniversary Author Edition

Leslie Feinberg, Leslie Feinberg

4.67 AVERAGE

maude_a's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jaymesisreading's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Completely heart aching and mind blowing

waqupi's review against another edition

4.75

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jrdgrz's review against another edition

5.0

would give it ten stars if i could.

echoesofstrdst's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i don’t think i have the words to describe this book or what it means to me. stone butch blues follows the life of jess goldberg, a working class, blue-collar butch lesbian, from childhood to adulthood as she navigates a complicated life during a time violently hostile towards lesbians and especially butch people.

i have never felt so seen or so uncomfortable when reading a book before. to see my life and my feelings reflected in these pages, both as something jess experienced and felt, or something she couldn’t understand, was both excruciating and relieving. finally, i was seeing myself in these pages. but stone butch blues is far from a happy book, and a lot of what i resonated with were the moments of deep hurt and confusion that jess endured. having dealt with my own struggles to accept myself and listening to people say that i’m not feminine enough but also not masculine enough, or “butch enough,” reading conversations where the butches in this book hear the same things made me realize that it’s something that a lot of other people feel and deal with. to read jess finally reaching a place in life that gave her hope for the future was amazing. i was grateful that the book ended on that note.

i don’t think there will ever be a day that goes by now where i don’t think of this book. for how widely known it is, i feel as if this book and the way i feel about it is almost sacred, something that i feel the urge to protect from prying eyes. stone butch blues is a masterpiece on the butch experience and details a moving activist element regarding labor and social justice. if any book is a gift to the world, this is definitely one of them.

Content Warnings

arealcarter's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective fast-paced

cacoethes's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

minkpoor's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

for many years I didn't feel that this book would be for me as all I knew was that it was a book about lesbians, something I've never felt connected to as a gay trans masc. through reading I quickly discovered it is so much more than that, and the descriptions of gender in this book have such an amazing depth to them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and will have to reread it when I'm older.