A review by savaging
Dora: A Headcase by Lidia Yuknavitch

2.0

I love the premise of getting some revenge on Sigmund Freud. But I found this writing unbearable. Nearly every page holds an ablist slur (r-word or clever derivation thereof). I'd try to chalk that up to the immature narrator, but Yuknavitch uses the same language in her memoir. And the narrator is full of fury and violence for anyone else who isn't as enlightened as she is, so my judgment feels sort of fair. Yuknavitch would probably insist that she's just not interested in being 'pc,' but I think it goes deeper than that. I think she needs to consistently denigrate people with mental disabilities so she can feel that her own (and the narrator's) mental problems are different - they're hip and cool and smart and edgy and will win you art prizes.

There are some good characters, like the trans black woman refugee - but she is perpetually mothering and giving to this mean little rich white girl narrator. Same with the person in a wheelchair, who shows up just to help her out several times.

In the end this book is a lot of sentences like these (an actual quote): "I can't tell you how much better I feel when I'm not in the Nazi daughter box - our so-called home. But ten o'clock at night in downtown Seattle is uber cool."

One of the glowing reviews calls this book "a smart, fast, chick Fight Club." With disappointment I agree.