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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
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.
While the collection of essays is titled White Girls, to simply call it a book about white girls both true and false. The subjects of these essays, Truman Capote, Michael Jackson, Eminem, and Richard Pryor are all ‘white girls’ in some respect, according to Als.
Read full review: https://mybookbagblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/hilton-als-white-girls-2013/
Read full review: https://mybookbagblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/hilton-als-white-girls-2013/
About- Essays on various “White Girls” (hint: the author’s definition of ‘white girls’ is different from the obvious interpretation).
Why I picked it– This was a book club pick, so I didn’t choose this one.
Thoughts- Eeek, this one was a real struggle for me. Remember, last time I was having trouble finishing it? Well, we set a date for a book club meeting this month, so I knew I had to pick it up again and power through. Sadly, this was my least favorite book in recent memory. I didn’t enjoy the writing style or the subject material. My impression of this book is that the only people who would enjoy it are some of the people mentioned in the book or the author himself. Yikes, that was harsh, no? But really, I didn’t like this book and if it weren’t for book club I wouldn’t have finished it.
Why I picked it– This was a book club pick, so I didn’t choose this one.
Thoughts- Eeek, this one was a real struggle for me. Remember, last time I was having trouble finishing it? Well, we set a date for a book club meeting this month, so I knew I had to pick it up again and power through. Sadly, this was my least favorite book in recent memory. I didn’t enjoy the writing style or the subject material. My impression of this book is that the only people who would enjoy it are some of the people mentioned in the book or the author himself. Yikes, that was harsh, no? But really, I didn’t like this book and if it weren’t for book club I wouldn’t have finished it.
tense
fast-paced
unfortunately, not sure what I came in for by the end of the first piece and felt thoroughly frustrated throughout, especially with misogynistic language and views that are never addressed, giving a sour aftertaste with a male author using this language with no recourse while writing in a vein expecting some form of recourse
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
White Girls is one of those books that will make you feel both smart and dumb. On its surface, Als's collection seems straightforward--a book of essays held together by a loose theme. At times it is--cultural criticism of some of the last half century's most controversial celebrities, exploration of race, gender, sexuality. But whether he's looking at a performer from an unexpected angle or giving a performance himself (spoiler: he basically always is), Als's work defies categorization or really any kind of systematic, non-fluid analysis.
The title is deceptively simple. Several essays take a direct approach to actual white women like Flannery O'Connor, Louise Brooks, Vivien Leigh. Others look at men via their relationship to white women: Eminem as a product (man and artist) of his mother, Malcolm X whose mother looked white, Als himself and his friendship with a white woman. He turns a critical and compassionate eye on Truman Capote and Michael Jackson's white femininity. He constantly questions whiteness and femininity, our and his desire for and rejection of them.
Most of the essays average ~15 pages, but 2 are much longer. The very first essay is the longest which I think is ultimately a smart choice as it sets up the rest of the book by providing background on Als, introducing the reader to his style that teeters between fiction and nonfiction, high and low. It also defines his terms of "white" and "girls" as much as they will allow definition, terms of identity and currency. We get an idea of how they've been used in his own life and how that informs his use of them in the rest of the book.
Two essays are written in the POV of women, one of the real Louise Brooks, a white woman best known for embodying the flapper style. The other in the 2nd longest essay as Richard Pryor's fictional sister. I didn't love these essays because the POV felt a bit gimmicky and made it harder to ground myself, especially since I didn't know if Pryor had a sister or not. However, they both help illustrate the constructedness of gender and highlight common ground as much as difference between gender and race while playing with the equally blurry lines of genre.
Als's writing showcases the work of a person who both knows who they are and is still figuring it out. Some of these essays were written decades ago but are still relevant for their content and their position in a constantly changing culture. I only wish there were more essays because I want to know his take on the newest zeitgeist, though that might be a little too mainstream.
The title is deceptively simple. Several essays take a direct approach to actual white women like Flannery O'Connor, Louise Brooks, Vivien Leigh. Others look at men via their relationship to white women: Eminem as a product (man and artist) of his mother, Malcolm X whose mother looked white, Als himself and his friendship with a white woman. He turns a critical and compassionate eye on Truman Capote and Michael Jackson's white femininity. He constantly questions whiteness and femininity, our and his desire for and rejection of them.
Most of the essays average ~15 pages, but 2 are much longer. The very first essay is the longest which I think is ultimately a smart choice as it sets up the rest of the book by providing background on Als, introducing the reader to his style that teeters between fiction and nonfiction, high and low. It also defines his terms of "white" and "girls" as much as they will allow definition, terms of identity and currency. We get an idea of how they've been used in his own life and how that informs his use of them in the rest of the book.
Two essays are written in the POV of women, one of the real Louise Brooks, a white woman best known for embodying the flapper style. The other in the 2nd longest essay as Richard Pryor's fictional sister. I didn't love these essays because the POV felt a bit gimmicky and made it harder to ground myself, especially since I didn't know if Pryor had a sister or not. However, they both help illustrate the constructedness of gender and highlight common ground as much as difference between gender and race while playing with the equally blurry lines of genre.
Als's writing showcases the work of a person who both knows who they are and is still figuring it out. Some of these essays were written decades ago but are still relevant for their content and their position in a constantly changing culture. I only wish there were more essays because I want to know his take on the newest zeitgeist, though that might be a little too mainstream.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Fascinating combo of cultural critique/memoir with lovely, fantastic chapters about such great people as Andre Leon Talley, Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson. 97 personal stars for the best writing about Louise Brooks that I've ever read (that she didn't write herself).
I got a little bogged down in some of the stylistic choices that made me doubt my own reading comprehension level, but in general this is just delicious and super super super smart.
I got a little bogged down in some of the stylistic choices that made me doubt my own reading comprehension level, but in general this is just delicious and super super super smart.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced