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A review by riotsquirrrl
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls by Hope Nicholson, Marjorie Liu, Margaret Atwood
2.0
I think I would have liked reading this a lot more in 2016 when it came out. Now it's rather dated and I'm not sure Gen Z readers would really relate to it.
In many ways I did relate to this, as a one-time geek girl with similar experiences. On the other hand, the collection is somewhat uneven and it ended up being about 2/3 prose and 1/3 comics which wasn't what I thought I was getting. There are several works by people who went on to be known in the comics world: Sarah Winifred Searle, Mariko Tamaki, Marjorie Liu. There's even an endearingly amateurish comic by Margaret Atwood.
(ETA: This book also has pretty wild tonal shifts. Most of the stories are pretty light in tone. And then there's one piece about how a woman of color was beaten up by her crush who became a skinhead. And another woman of color who was molested as a child. I would have liked to have seen either more women of color, more traumatic stories, or fewer. But the number included sits weird with me.)
But so much of the work involves people relating to each other through fandoms, and the fandom landscape has changed so radically in 7 years. The vast majority of Gen Z women are not interested in anything Joss Whedon put out 20-25 years ago. One author talks about this new thing, the marvel movie franchise.
And I'm not sure that we necessarily need books right now that talk about how women nerds exist.
I tracked this title down via interlibrary loan but maybe it's just not around anymore for a reason.
In many ways I did relate to this, as a one-time geek girl with similar experiences. On the other hand, the collection is somewhat uneven and it ended up being about 2/3 prose and 1/3 comics which wasn't what I thought I was getting. There are several works by people who went on to be known in the comics world: Sarah Winifred Searle, Mariko Tamaki, Marjorie Liu. There's even an endearingly amateurish comic by Margaret Atwood.
(ETA: This book also has pretty wild tonal shifts. Most of the stories are pretty light in tone. And then there's one piece about how a woman of color was beaten up by her crush who became a skinhead. And another woman of color who was molested as a child. I would have liked to have seen either more women of color, more traumatic stories, or fewer. But the number included sits weird with me.)
But so much of the work involves people relating to each other through fandoms, and the fandom landscape has changed so radically in 7 years. The vast majority of Gen Z women are not interested in anything Joss Whedon put out 20-25 years ago. One author talks about this new thing, the marvel movie franchise.
And I'm not sure that we necessarily need books right now that talk about how women nerds exist.
I tracked this title down via interlibrary loan but maybe it's just not around anymore for a reason.