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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
It should be mentioned that this a collection of essays, each with its' own definition of a "white girl".
Some essays were great, some were painful to finish. The first one was a bad introduction to the entire collection.
It is a fun read if you're really into popular culture topics that don't shy away from gender and race.
Some essays were great, some were painful to finish. The first one was a bad introduction to the entire collection.
It is a fun read if you're really into popular culture topics that don't shy away from gender and race.
I'm about halfway through right now (SF Public Library wouldn't let me renew) and I know it'll take me a little time before I can finish but I do want to say that at this point this book is simply beautiful and heartbreaking and so contemplative and vulnerable in the best way. This is basically the way that I wish I could write, in a way that's both intensely personal and universal. Love love love.
tristes tropiques is the most heartwrenching piece i've ever read; i am the happiness of this world will have me thinking about louise brooks until the next time i can go to rochester, cursing myself for not visiting her grave when i lived there.
I want to clarify that I gave this book five stars because it deserved nothing less, yet Als' writing remains beyond my grasp. He weaves in the names of celebrities and pop culture figures until his writing becomes a language of its own. I saw a glimpse of what I imagine fans of The Wake are so endeared by: contorted English that grows limbs and runs off as a fictional dialect, but immerses you all the same.
Whether I just haven't seen/read enough to comprehend Als (this is very possible), or if Als meant it that ways (also very possible), White Girls is nonetheless a book that makes you think and feel deeply. I recognized myself in many of these essays, particularly in the fictionalized account of Richard Pryor's nonexistent sister in You In Whose Army, and in white girls and actresses I'd never even heard of. In the ones I didn't recognize myself in, I read intently anyways. Als perfectly captures the melodrama and frailty, the white girl, in all of us. This is a book that I can't wait to read again in a few years and learn something different about myself and others
Whether I just haven't seen/read enough to comprehend Als (this is very possible), or if Als meant it that ways (also very possible), White Girls is nonetheless a book that makes you think and feel deeply. I recognized myself in many of these essays, particularly in the fictionalized account of Richard Pryor's nonexistent sister in You In Whose Army, and in white girls and actresses I'd never even heard of. In the ones I didn't recognize myself in, I read intently anyways. Als perfectly captures the melodrama and frailty, the white girl, in all of us. This is a book that I can't wait to read again in a few years and learn something different about myself and others
I think I’m not smart enough for Als’ writing. But what I comprehended, I liked.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
I want to write a fullblown review of this book, I think...found it utterly absorbing and provocative. Als uses the figure of the white girl (loosely defined to include, for instance, Malcolm X's "white" mother as well as fashionable young white women like those on the cover) as a way to enter into discussions of race, sexuality, gender, identity and identity politics, interpersonal relationships, literature, film, writing. The first essay, on the Als's experience of "twinning" with a loved one is my favorite; though I was pretty stunned by essays on Eminem and Richard Pryor, as well as Michael Jackson...I was stunned by most of the book, I suppose.
Some interesting similarities to Kate Zambreno's Heroines, in the kind of channeling it occasionally enacts. Definitely my favorite nonfiction read since Heroines, in any case.
Some interesting similarities to Kate Zambreno's Heroines, in the kind of channeling it occasionally enacts. Definitely my favorite nonfiction read since Heroines, in any case.
It was a difficult read that I definitely need to read again at a later date, but I enjoyed it.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed about my feelings after reading this book, feelings which are largely ambivalent.
I came into this expecting (which may have been my mistake) some kind of social critique on race and sex in the form of a 300 page New Yorker article. And there was certainly...some of that. But what this really seemed to be was a collection of essays that took one person -- be it Flannery O'Connor, Eminem, or André Leon Talley -- and delivered a biography/op-ed hybrid piece on said person. Now, I will say that the essays on people I was already familiar with (Eminem, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor) were much more enjoyable than those on people unfamiliar (Truman Capote, Flannery O'Connor, Louise Little, etc.). But at the end of the day, I felt like I was reading a more poetic Mythologies which, for whatever reason, was much less interesting than the original Barthes. It felt like Als was writing his thoughts about a person's career without really saying much of anything.
Now, based on the harshness above, the 3-star rating may seem unwarranted. However, what really saved this collection for me was the opening essay and closing essays. Here, Als opens up and delivers raw, aching, and vibrant personal essays that really dig into what I thought this book would be more about: race, queerness, and identity. Als puts himself on the line in "Triste Tropiques" and lays bare his relationships with SL, Mrs. Vreeland, and K (all masked by pseudonyms) and how they both created and were products of his "I". The writing is emotional and pulls at exactly what prose is supposed to pull at, that unnamed sentimentality that unites us as sufferers on this earth. The final essay, "It Will Soon Be Here", touches on the pain of shutting away your self for the benefit of others and how the active reconstruction of memory and identity is a bloody process. Brief and poignant, this essay was a winner for me. I struggled with "You and Whose Army?" largely because it came on the heels of one of Als' weird biography/think pieces about Richard Pryor and still continued to discuss Richard Pryor. "You and Whose Army?" is an (imagined?) interview between a reporter and Pryor's unnamed sister who is sardonic, aggressive, and uncompromising. I was lost because at first I thought it another biography but I believe it's meant to be almost a fiction. Reading it as literary fiction rather than an actual recounting of life events makes for a more interesting experience. Again we see the theme of identity molding from the point of view of a voice actress for porn movies. Living in the shadow of Pryor's success, the sister uses her career and the stories of others to inform on what her life is like. While I certainly lost the thread of this piece at times, it was one of the better essays in the collection.
I realized that I also like "GWTW", but the fact that I forgot it because it is sandwiched between this random assortment of character assessments speaks for itself.
I would read "Tristes Tropiques", "GWTW", "Philosopher or Dog?", "Buddy Ebsen", and "It Will Soon Be Here" if you want the social commentary you're probably expecting. If you're oblivious like me, that is.
I came into this expecting (which may have been my mistake) some kind of social critique on race and sex in the form of a 300 page New Yorker article. And there was certainly...some of that. But what this really seemed to be was a collection of essays that took one person -- be it Flannery O'Connor, Eminem, or André Leon Talley -- and delivered a biography/op-ed hybrid piece on said person. Now, I will say that the essays on people I was already familiar with (Eminem, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor) were much more enjoyable than those on people unfamiliar (Truman Capote, Flannery O'Connor, Louise Little, etc.). But at the end of the day, I felt like I was reading a more poetic Mythologies which, for whatever reason, was much less interesting than the original Barthes. It felt like Als was writing his thoughts about a person's career without really saying much of anything.
Now, based on the harshness above, the 3-star rating may seem unwarranted. However, what really saved this collection for me was the opening essay and closing essays. Here, Als opens up and delivers raw, aching, and vibrant personal essays that really dig into what I thought this book would be more about: race, queerness, and identity. Als puts himself on the line in "Triste Tropiques" and lays bare his relationships with SL, Mrs. Vreeland, and K (all masked by pseudonyms) and how they both created and were products of his "I". The writing is emotional and pulls at exactly what prose is supposed to pull at, that unnamed sentimentality that unites us as sufferers on this earth. The final essay, "It Will Soon Be Here", touches on the pain of shutting away your self for the benefit of others and how the active reconstruction of memory and identity is a bloody process. Brief and poignant, this essay was a winner for me. I struggled with "You and Whose Army?" largely because it came on the heels of one of Als' weird biography/think pieces about Richard Pryor and still continued to discuss Richard Pryor. "You and Whose Army?" is an (imagined?) interview between a reporter and Pryor's unnamed sister who is sardonic, aggressive, and uncompromising. I was lost because at first I thought it another biography but I believe it's meant to be almost a fiction. Reading it as literary fiction rather than an actual recounting of life events makes for a more interesting experience. Again we see the theme of identity molding from the point of view of a voice actress for porn movies. Living in the shadow of Pryor's success, the sister uses her career and the stories of others to inform on what her life is like. While I certainly lost the thread of this piece at times, it was one of the better essays in the collection.
I realized that I also like "GWTW", but the fact that I forgot it because it is sandwiched between this random assortment of character assessments speaks for itself.
I would read "Tristes Tropiques", "GWTW", "Philosopher or Dog?", "Buddy Ebsen", and "It Will Soon Be Here" if you want the social commentary you're probably expecting. If you're oblivious like me, that is.