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A review by thatsoneforthebooks
My Name's Yours, What's Alaska?: A Memoir by Alaska Thunderfuck 5000
4.0
Hieeeeeeee!
Sometime during the pandemic, I got hooked on watching Drag Race. It brought levity and joy and color to some of the dark days of COVID. Alaska captured my attention on the show, and reading this and learning more back story was a lot of fun. I've always appreciated Alaska's conceptual take on drag and willingness to play with (and outside) gender, and that comes through in this book.
While certainly far from a literary masterpiece (sometimes transitions are a little few and far between), most of this reads well in Alaska's voice. Providing loads of back story, this book details how Alaska started in drag (including life before drag), auditioning repeatedly for Drag Race, dating Sharon Needles, getting on Drag Race, and how life changed after Drag Race. I also learned a lot about the Pittsburgh drag scene in which Sharon and Alaska grew into their own. I appreciated that throughout the book Alaska owned past mistakes, writing about the bad decisions alongside the good. It's filled with photos, providing glimpses of how Alaska has developed as a queen over her career.
I would have loved more tea on Drag Race, but even as it stands, this was a fun light read that I fully enjoyed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the eARC!
Sometime during the pandemic, I got hooked on watching Drag Race. It brought levity and joy and color to some of the dark days of COVID. Alaska captured my attention on the show, and reading this and learning more back story was a lot of fun. I've always appreciated Alaska's conceptual take on drag and willingness to play with (and outside) gender, and that comes through in this book.
While certainly far from a literary masterpiece (sometimes transitions are a little few and far between), most of this reads well in Alaska's voice. Providing loads of back story, this book details how Alaska started in drag (including life before drag), auditioning repeatedly for Drag Race, dating Sharon Needles, getting on Drag Race, and how life changed after Drag Race. I also learned a lot about the Pittsburgh drag scene in which Sharon and Alaska grew into their own. I appreciated that throughout the book Alaska owned past mistakes, writing about the bad decisions alongside the good. It's filled with photos, providing glimpses of how Alaska has developed as a queen over her career.
I would have loved more tea on Drag Race, but even as it stands, this was a fun light read that I fully enjoyed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the eARC!