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A review by nobeliumreads
I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life by Cody Daigle-Orians
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC.
A must read for anyone questioning whether they are ace or on the asexual-spectrum and a valuable resource for anyone wanting to learn about asexuality. I personally really loved this book. I don’t typically read nonfiction but I wanted to read this as someone who is ace but was still lacking confidence in my sexuality and was also unable to articulate some of the experiences and thoughts I had. Reading this was incredibly helpful in not only explaining the concepts I had trouble with, but also giving me the confidence to truly embrace my asexual identity.
The writing is simplistic and super easy to read despite its complex subject material. The metaphors and analogies used were relatable, easy to understand, and humorous a lot of the time. And despite its simplicity, the author acknowledges that some terms and concepts could not be summed up in a few short sentences, which is something I’m glad was mentioned. Furthermore, the abundance of resources included at the end of the book was amazing; not only further reading, but also a-spec fiction books and ace activists, educators and content creators to follow which I thought was super important.
I really loved the chapter on microaggressions because even though I already knew those microaggressions to be untrue, it helped to deconstruct them in a way that I understood and thus I could finally articulate exactly why they were untrue, instead of merely knowing they were. That applies to the whole book; it was incredibly helpful in explaining some concepts that I only vaguely knew about and some I’d never even heard of. And whilst there is quite a bit of new information, the book is structured in little sections that make it easy to put down and pick back up, so there is no need to take it all in at once. I also loved how the book ended on such a lovely note. (And slightly off topic but I did not realise I followed the author on Tiktok until about 60% through the book but that was a fun surprise!)
If I had any issues, it’s that I did wish it went into more detail at times, specifically in how the asexual experience can be impacted by other identities like your ethnicity or gender identity, but it did not take away from the reading experience, particularly as there were additional resources provided that do offer deeper analyses.
Overall, a great book that serves as an expansive but easy to read introduction into asexuality and the many experiences that asexual people may go through.
A must read for anyone questioning whether they are ace or on the asexual-spectrum and a valuable resource for anyone wanting to learn about asexuality. I personally really loved this book. I don’t typically read nonfiction but I wanted to read this as someone who is ace but was still lacking confidence in my sexuality and was also unable to articulate some of the experiences and thoughts I had. Reading this was incredibly helpful in not only explaining the concepts I had trouble with, but also giving me the confidence to truly embrace my asexual identity.
The writing is simplistic and super easy to read despite its complex subject material. The metaphors and analogies used were relatable, easy to understand, and humorous a lot of the time. And despite its simplicity, the author acknowledges that some terms and concepts could not be summed up in a few short sentences, which is something I’m glad was mentioned. Furthermore, the abundance of resources included at the end of the book was amazing; not only further reading, but also a-spec fiction books and ace activists, educators and content creators to follow which I thought was super important.
I really loved the chapter on microaggressions because even though I already knew those microaggressions to be untrue, it helped to deconstruct them in a way that I understood and thus I could finally articulate exactly why they were untrue, instead of merely knowing they were. That applies to the whole book; it was incredibly helpful in explaining some concepts that I only vaguely knew about and some I’d never even heard of. And whilst there is quite a bit of new information, the book is structured in little sections that make it easy to put down and pick back up, so there is no need to take it all in at once. I also loved how the book ended on such a lovely note. (And slightly off topic but I did not realise I followed the author on Tiktok until about 60% through the book but that was a fun surprise!)
If I had any issues, it’s that I did wish it went into more detail at times, specifically in how the asexual experience can be impacted by other identities like your ethnicity or gender identity, but it did not take away from the reading experience, particularly as there were additional resources provided that do offer deeper analyses.
Overall, a great book that serves as an expansive but easy to read introduction into asexuality and the many experiences that asexual people may go through.