A review by jerakahs
Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Dykette attempts to serve a century of lesbian aesthetics, history, and queer/gender theory in under 200 pages. In some ways, Davis succeeds; almost every sentence is referential, painfully so at times. Admittedly, if you know a good deal about lesbian culture (past or present), it makes you feel like an insider. Certainly, a lot will go over non-lesbian heads. But it's also exhausting, reading so much queer theory laid out in such a shallow way. It comes across as self serving, a way for the narrator (who some have pointed out is a self-insert character for the author) to prove her own credibility and experience as a dyke. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the first 75% of this book, and would recommend that percentage to my other lesbians.