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A review by proletecario
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
5.0
The amount of time spent wanting to get to this read and finally savoring it can't be measured, but it all tasted a bit like blood--from the anxious nail-biting need to get my hands and eyes on it, to the punch after punch to the gut finally engaging with it meant.
Was I dumb or an optimist for ever expecting a work with such title and historical context to be anything other than dose after dose of violence? And yet, despite the narrative crudeness of the experience of being different under fascistic capitalism's inherent violence, Stone Butch Blues evokes nothing more than inspired reflection. A true showcase of resilience; a true case of holding its weight in history. It has that evergrowing tone reminiscent of Camila Sosa Villada's Las malas (Bad Girls/The Queens of Sarmiento Park)--(and I think anyone who liked SBB, would enjoy BG and viceversa)--(sorry for never wasting a chance to recommend these beautiful reads.)
Feinberg is a truly missed talent: as an organizer, a speaker and as a writer. I still have much more of zir to unveil, thankfully, my experience with zir's work doesn't, couldn't possibly, end here.
When it comes to this particular book, this particular reading experience, for me, it was pretty close hitting. There's so much to be said about the simple and yet entirely poetic ways with which Leslie Feinberg manages to portray such acts of hate and love and self discovery, opening zir heart to the world while somehow still preserving some intimacies, still keeping in some parts the tightlipped character of the butch she was and wrote about, to the point that these would invoke even the most enstranged, casual, unrelated reader's tears, what with such depictions of life's struggle for survival. There's so much to learn from zir.
The strength shown in Jess Goldberg resolute decision to survive, to be acknowledged as a butch, a 'he-she'. and later organize reminds me of Lou Sullivan's quote from his diary: "How am I going to all of a sudden be closety again after coming so far out so succesfully?"
As someone who came out as a lesbian in my early teens, later transitioned to 'male' through testosterone, passes as a man (but never identified as such), and is once again rethinking whether I might be a lesbian, this read is much more meaningful than I could ever put into words--I don't have to, though, chapter 19 of this work does it for me.
Please, do yourself a favor: read Stone Butch Blues!
Drag King Dreams is next in 2025. But, hopefully, I can also find zir other works somewhere or print them out for myself.
Was I dumb or an optimist for ever expecting a work with such title and historical context to be anything other than dose after dose of violence? And yet, despite the narrative crudeness of the experience of being different under fascistic capitalism's inherent violence, Stone Butch Blues evokes nothing more than inspired reflection. A true showcase of resilience; a true case of holding its weight in history. It has that evergrowing tone reminiscent of Camila Sosa Villada's Las malas (Bad Girls/The Queens of Sarmiento Park)--(and I think anyone who liked SBB, would enjoy BG and viceversa)--(sorry for never wasting a chance to recommend these beautiful reads.)
Feinberg is a truly missed talent: as an organizer, a speaker and as a writer. I still have much more of zir to unveil, thankfully, my experience with zir's work doesn't, couldn't possibly, end here.
When it comes to this particular book, this particular reading experience, for me, it was pretty close hitting. There's so much to be said about the simple and yet entirely poetic ways with which Leslie Feinberg manages to portray such acts of hate and love and self discovery, opening zir heart to the world while somehow still preserving some intimacies, still keeping in some parts the tightlipped character of the butch she was and wrote about, to the point that these would invoke even the most enstranged, casual, unrelated reader's tears, what with such depictions of life's struggle for survival. There's so much to learn from zir.
The strength shown in Jess Goldberg resolute decision to survive, to be acknowledged as a butch, a 'he-she'. and later organize reminds me of Lou Sullivan's quote from his diary: "How am I going to all of a sudden be closety again after coming so far out so succesfully?"
As someone who came out as a lesbian in my early teens, later transitioned to 'male' through testosterone, passes as a man (but never identified as such), and is once again rethinking whether I might be a lesbian, this read is much more meaningful than I could ever put into words--I don't have to, though, chapter 19 of this work does it for me.
Please, do yourself a favor: read Stone Butch Blues!
Drag King Dreams is next in 2025. But, hopefully, I can also find zir other works somewhere or print them out for myself.