Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
The parody parts turn a little one note, but some of the later stories are gutting.
3.5 stars. Great premise but a little slow to start. Loved the last two stories!
This is dark and sad AF, guys. Very timely with the advent of #metoo and #timesup.
Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2017/06/06/review-the-refrigerator-monologues-by-catherynne-m-valente/
I love the concept of this book which gives voice to those sidelined females in comic books. It creates fleshed out characters that have motivations and thoughts and intriguing stories all their own. It shows they are something more than just a footnote in the story of a super hero.
And this book is all that, which is wonderful. However, this is going to be a hard one for me to review. When it comes down to it, while I love the concept and the general stories, the style itself is just not a style that works well for me. That does not mean it’s poorly executed by any means. This is a book where the type of humor just really fell flat for me. This is not an unusual struggle for me, it happens often enough I can recognize when I have issue due to the style rather than the writer’s ability to craft a story. I can also recognize the areas that this book fell flat for me may very well be what makes it a stand out in a very positive way for others.
The book covers 6 different protagonists, each one with a unique story and situation (often a familiar one, though all names have been changed). It is a fun concept. And the way all of these chapters are tied together is through the Hell Hath Club. It is a an afterlife hangout where all of these women can go and share there stories.
And when it comes down to it, the entire point of these stories is not to make people laugh, but to learn to appreciate how often women in the standard stories are there only to progress the male story line. They are merely dispensable stepping stones that are given little thought or depth, just a byline in the story of the male protagonist. Valente finally gives them a voice and the ability to stand up and be known. It makes a statement that and gives people something to think about the next time they come across a super hero story with women that could easily join the Hell Hath Club.
I love the concept of this book which gives voice to those sidelined females in comic books. It creates fleshed out characters that have motivations and thoughts and intriguing stories all their own. It shows they are something more than just a footnote in the story of a super hero.
And this book is all that, which is wonderful. However, this is going to be a hard one for me to review. When it comes down to it, while I love the concept and the general stories, the style itself is just not a style that works well for me. That does not mean it’s poorly executed by any means. This is a book where the type of humor just really fell flat for me. This is not an unusual struggle for me, it happens often enough I can recognize when I have issue due to the style rather than the writer’s ability to craft a story. I can also recognize the areas that this book fell flat for me may very well be what makes it a stand out in a very positive way for others.
The book covers 6 different protagonists, each one with a unique story and situation (often a familiar one, though all names have been changed). It is a fun concept. And the way all of these chapters are tied together is through the Hell Hath Club. It is a an afterlife hangout where all of these women can go and share there stories.
And when it comes down to it, the entire point of these stories is not to make people laugh, but to learn to appreciate how often women in the standard stories are there only to progress the male story line. They are merely dispensable stepping stones that are given little thought or depth, just a byline in the story of the male protagonist. Valente finally gives them a voice and the ability to stand up and be known. It makes a statement that and gives people something to think about the next time they come across a super hero story with women that could easily join the Hell Hath Club.
Let me start by saying that I adored this book.
I found it after soaking up the audiobook for Six-Gun Snow White, after impulse-buying Radiance at a time when I had never heard of Catherynne Valente, and I have certainly not been disappointed.
Her stylized way of writing perfectly compliments the superhero world she has created without diminishing the blatant message she is screaming out into the universe: women deserve to be more than a footnote in a man's story.
I was going to write a lengthy review about the merit of The Refrigerator Monologues, but then I found this article from the author herself where she explained it better than I ever could:
https://www.themarysue.com/the-refrigerator-strikes-back-the-refrigerator-monologues/
"I can’t swoop in and save the damsel. What I can do is turn on a mic and let the damsel scream." - Catherynne M. Valente
I found it after soaking up the audiobook for Six-Gun Snow White, after impulse-buying Radiance at a time when I had never heard of Catherynne Valente, and I have certainly not been disappointed.
Her stylized way of writing perfectly compliments the superhero world she has created without diminishing the blatant message she is screaming out into the universe: women deserve to be more than a footnote in a man's story.
I was going to write a lengthy review about the merit of The Refrigerator Monologues, but then I found this article from the author herself where she explained it better than I ever could:
https://www.themarysue.com/the-refrigerator-strikes-back-the-refrigerator-monologues/
"I can’t swoop in and save the damsel. What I can do is turn on a mic and let the damsel scream." - Catherynne M. Valente
Cathrynne M. Valente's distinctive writing style is put to use describing the former lives of various girlfriends/partners of superheroes. There's plenty of anger expressed by six women who were relied on then quickly and easily forgotten by their distinctly unheroic superhero partners. The women are interesting people, who, because of their association with superheroes, come to abrupt ends that the superheroes use to propel themselves into bigger and more ridiculous confrontations, all the while spouting lines about freedom. The women bear the costs, and all ask pointed questions about value, respect, and responsibility, which the superheroes seemed to have scant regard for. It was impossible for me to not feel moved by the women and how their bodies and usefulness were trampled and destroyed by the men who supposedly cared about them, and life.
I don't think I can count this as read, I started some of the stories, immediately didn't like them, and skipped to the next. The humor wasn't really funny to me, and none of the stories were particularly interesting. I get what it's trying to do, but it's not for me.
True rating: 4.5 stars, but the Goodreads doesn't do half-stars. Except for her endings, which kind of wander off into obscurity, the author deserves much credit for this overdue chronicle of the Women in Refrigerators.
I adore Catherynne Valente's children's books but had never read one of her adult novels. The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of short stories about the women in superhero stories. These women are all dead and live in Deadtown. They are the Hell Hath club and they meet to tell their stories. I was not aware of the term refrigerator in regards to women in comics, but it makes sense. The girlfriends and wives of superheroes are often treated as collateral damage in their stories if they are mentioned at all. I am not familiar with the real superheroes these stories are taken from but I don't think you have to be. You just have to enjoy their tales. I think my only real complaint about the stories were that some of them were a bit on the short side. Valente had to sacrifice length and detail to keep them as monologues.
Fantastic and funny and all too close to what actually happens in comics