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iam 's review for:
How to Be Ace
by Rebecca Burgess
How to Be Ace is a memoir about what being asexual can be like. I found it less focussed on the "growing up" part than it sounded, instead showing various situations, feelings and internal struggles relating to asexuality that are mostly removed from age.
Content warnings include: aphobia, OCD, anxiety and panic attacks, depression; mentions of endometriosis.
The "growing up" part is not the only part of the title I found unfitting. This is a memoir, not a guide or educational nonfiction as the "how to be ace" implies. There are short passages about more clinical definitions and varieties of asexuality (and I think it was absolutely necessary for them to be included! I wouldn't have minded more of that) but the book mainly focusses on the author's personal experience with asexuality.
For the most part, asexuality as a label and part of a community isn't mentioned. Instead, it shows more insight into what it can be like not knowing the label exists, the prevalence of constant microaggressions asexual people face in today's society, and how that can affect us. It also shows quite well how confusing it can be to be asexual in a world where sex and being sexual is seen as a core concept of human behaviour.
Another big chunk of the book was mental health, specifically OCD and anxiety, as well as panic attacks and depression tied to it and other circumstances (and yes, partially tied to the lack of acceptance of asexuality and being driven to feel like something is wrong or broken because of it, too.)
The artstyle felt a lot more analog than digital. It wasn't my most favourite, but I obviously won't hold that against the book. What did bother me though was the font got really hard to read sometimes, especially smaller side comments that aren't part of the "main speech bubbles". There were some passages I absolutely could not make out.
I liked how some of the more abstract concepts and feelings were illustrated on page, making the book accessible to young readers and conveying emotions quite skillfully. However, it wasn't always clear what was supposed to be an illustration of feelings and what was something that actually happened.
My biggest issue with the book was that transitions were seriously lacking. It switched from educational passages to personal anecdotes, from describing scenes or interactions in detail to skimming over years without much pause, just like it skipped between topics and focus without warning. Sometimes even the timeline was unclear to me, because it switched back and forth and only a fraction of the time does it mentioned when it takes place. I also found it hard to anchor the author's age in real time, up until the last third when suddenly year numbers appear.
Overall a nice memoir that doesn't forget that it's just one experience among many. I do think it can give allosexual people an idea of what being asexual can be like, can make other asexual people feel seen, and maybe even give someone who is questioning some perspective.
I recevied an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily. I am asexual myself.
Content warnings include: aphobia, OCD, anxiety and panic attacks, depression; mentions of endometriosis.
The "growing up" part is not the only part of the title I found unfitting. This is a memoir, not a guide or educational nonfiction as the "how to be ace" implies. There are short passages about more clinical definitions and varieties of asexuality (and I think it was absolutely necessary for them to be included! I wouldn't have minded more of that) but the book mainly focusses on the author's personal experience with asexuality.
For the most part, asexuality as a label and part of a community isn't mentioned. Instead, it shows more insight into what it can be like not knowing the label exists, the prevalence of constant microaggressions asexual people face in today's society, and how that can affect us. It also shows quite well how confusing it can be to be asexual in a world where sex and being sexual is seen as a core concept of human behaviour.
Another big chunk of the book was mental health, specifically OCD and anxiety, as well as panic attacks and depression tied to it and other circumstances (and yes, partially tied to the lack of acceptance of asexuality and being driven to feel like something is wrong or broken because of it, too.)
The artstyle felt a lot more analog than digital. It wasn't my most favourite, but I obviously won't hold that against the book. What did bother me though was the font got really hard to read sometimes, especially smaller side comments that aren't part of the "main speech bubbles". There were some passages I absolutely could not make out.
I liked how some of the more abstract concepts and feelings were illustrated on page, making the book accessible to young readers and conveying emotions quite skillfully. However, it wasn't always clear what was supposed to be an illustration of feelings and what was something that actually happened.
My biggest issue with the book was that transitions were seriously lacking. It switched from educational passages to personal anecdotes, from describing scenes or interactions in detail to skimming over years without much pause, just like it skipped between topics and focus without warning. Sometimes even the timeline was unclear to me, because it switched back and forth and only a fraction of the time does it mentioned when it takes place. I also found it hard to anchor the author's age in real time, up until the last third when suddenly year numbers appear.
Overall a nice memoir that doesn't forget that it's just one experience among many. I do think it can give allosexual people an idea of what being asexual can be like, can make other asexual people feel seen, and maybe even give someone who is questioning some perspective.
I recevied an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily. I am asexual myself.