sarahtaft129 's review for:

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

4.0

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From a technical perspective, this is a bit of a disaster--almost reads more like an anthology or collection of short stories rather than a cohesive fictional narrative, strangely paced, unrealistic and often cringey dialogue, weak prose, and sparsely described yet ancillary side characters who are too often developed by trope-based archetype binning. For these reasons and for these reasons alone I cannot award this book 5 stars.

And yet it remains one of the most special, beautiful, and impactful novels I've read in recent years. The richness of Jess's growth, the love and community that she cyclically leans into and away from, the pain that she both wears on her sleeve and hides in her most secluded recesses, the tears upon tears upon tears upon tears that are continuously rendered at the perfect intersection of masculinity and tenderness (i.e. butchness), the iterative beauty of multi-generational chosen family care-giving (

Spoiler

Though I will say, the ending with Scotty and Kim absolutely decimated me

), and finally, though perhaps most foundationally, the depth of class commentary, specifically the permeating strength of blue collar grit that is arguably the only reason for Jess' survival... it's a stunning, messy, chaotic tapestry of the life and lives of those that are so often unknown, so judged, so cast aside, so exploited, yet so perfectly unique, complex, and beautiful. No amount of rambling can capture just how special this book is. There's a review on here that I think best describes exactly how I feel at the moment: "In a lesbian's life there's a before reading Stone Butch Blues and [an] after, [when] you close the book [and hold] it close to your heart." -Aster