zoesyo 's review for:

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara

4.5

informative medium-paced

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 What an incredible read! As someone who considers herself a horror movie fan it's so upsetting I've never heard the name Millicent Patrick before in my life. I'm so thankful that I read this book and know all about her and what she did. I really appreciate that the author left in the not so nice stuff about Millicent because woman are people made up of good and bad and only showing the good parts would have been a disservice. Not only did I find Millicent's story inspiring I really enjoyed the self reflections of the author in regards to "not being like other girls". I remember moments from when I was younger where I definitely had it in my head that I was "better" for "not being like other girls" because I liked horror movies, video games, anime, and I didn't focus on make up or how my clothes looked that much. Of course as I got older I realized that's dumb as hell and those thoughts are just as harmful as men talking down on women and I needed to work on that part of my self.

I also really enjoyed learning about some of the other awesome woman mentioned in this book that influenced Millicent: Julia Morgan (Bad Ass Architect who was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2008) Nelbert Chouinard (Bad Ass who opened her own art school in California only 1 year after woman earned the right to vote)