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A review by purplepierogi
Finding Normal: Sex, Love, and Taboo in Our Hyperconnected World by Alexa Tsoulis-Reay
2.0
edit: I skipped some stuff but read most of the last bit just to say I finished (apparently 15% of e-copy was notes bibliography etc). everything still stands — first part was boring with no real perspective, second part was A Lot and not enjoyable or well structured to be thought provoking. pass!
…
Yeah, I couldn’t finish this one, I made it 75% through but the chapter on bestiality was as bad as the trigger warnings professed. Of what I did read, the author does not have any interesting exploration of her subject matter and the framing was nothing special, it is pretty dry and the questions for thought at the end of each chapter just felt tacked on and limp. The chapter on age gap relationships turned out to be familiar to me already as I’d seen the primary couple featured on that snapchat segment “Love Don’t Judge,” and this book is kind of that writ large — no real discussion, just a presentation of people. And the two poles are 1) things you’re probably familiar with, asexuality and polyamory and 2) incest and bestiality.
As a real criticism for publishers, I know that the chapter titles were probably left just as the interviewee’s names in order to emphasize them as people over their sexual proclivities, but I wish that the titles had something to do with the content of the chapter so as a reader I could gauge exactly what I’m about to read or what chapters I want to skip without having to be deep into them.
…
Yeah, I couldn’t finish this one, I made it 75% through but the chapter on bestiality was as bad as the trigger warnings professed. Of what I did read, the author does not have any interesting exploration of her subject matter and the framing was nothing special, it is pretty dry and the questions for thought at the end of each chapter just felt tacked on and limp. The chapter on age gap relationships turned out to be familiar to me already as I’d seen the primary couple featured on that snapchat segment “Love Don’t Judge,” and this book is kind of that writ large — no real discussion, just a presentation of people. And the two poles are 1) things you’re probably familiar with, asexuality and polyamory and 2) incest and bestiality.
As a real criticism for publishers, I know that the chapter titles were probably left just as the interviewee’s names in order to emphasize them as people over their sexual proclivities, but I wish that the titles had something to do with the content of the chapter so as a reader I could gauge exactly what I’m about to read or what chapters I want to skip without having to be deep into them.