Scan barcode
A review by katrinky
Human Blues by Elisa Albert
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
3.75
this book irritated the shit out of me and I want to give a copy to everyone I know. it was like reading my own weirdest thoughts, truly shocking to see my own fixations and affects and perverse brainwaves written by someone else. my main complaint is that reading it meant getting lectured for 400 pages. the protagonist (lol I use that term loosely; this book is nothing if not 100% the author's imagining of her own parallel life as an Ani-type rich punk musician living in upstate NY) is witty and smart and queer and jewish and feminist, so I at least *agreed* with some of the lectures, but they were lectures nevertheless.
which brings me to the lectures I DIDN'T agree with, about scientific interventions in re: pregnancy but also, like, any surgery at all, apparently?? like Ani (the parallels really did abound, and the author mentioning Ani as an influence/comrade of Aviva's did not remove the elephant in the room), Aviva tips into some gender essentialism and flirts assiduously with trans exclusion.
basically, I really love and appreciate this author for writing deranged feminist books, and will truly ask everyone I know to read this, but I was also actively annoyed at her, her character, and myself for basically every moment of reading it.
which brings me to the lectures I DIDN'T agree with, about scientific interventions in re: pregnancy but also, like, any surgery at all, apparently?? like Ani (the parallels really did abound, and the author mentioning Ani as an influence/comrade of Aviva's did not remove the elephant in the room), Aviva tips into some gender essentialism and flirts assiduously with trans exclusion.
basically, I really love and appreciate this author for writing deranged feminist books, and will truly ask everyone I know to read this, but I was also actively annoyed at her, her character, and myself for basically every moment of reading it.