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chrysemys 's review for:
Stone Butch Blues
by Leslie Feinberg
Literarily, this is not a good book.
Feinberg chose to write this novel in first person, and the voice of the narrator remains childish and without depth for much of the novel. Perhaps this was deliberate, to emphasize that Jess's thinking had not matured. However, it came off to me that in many spots in the novel, the author did not know/remember how these situations would feel.
Feinberg also uses a lot of gay/trans archetypes as characters, as well as placing in the novel pretty much every shitty experience a lesbian or trans guy could have possibly had since the 1950s. Writing in absolutely as much of the "butch" experience as they possibly could. I think maybe it is that this book feels assembled rather than written that is the problem for me. Also, most of the characters indulge in a lot of annoying speechifying, especially in the latter half or third of the book. (Show, don't tell!) I can't suspend my disbelief for prose that sounds like an afterschool special.
Like Uncle Tom's Cabin, this book is propaganda dressed up as a novel. It doesn't matter that I wholeheartedly agree with the message that both books deliver (oppression is bad, all people have feelings, don't be a dick), the reason they are important works is because of the message and not for any inherent literary value.
Feinberg chose to write this novel in first person, and the voice of the narrator remains childish and without depth for much of the novel. Perhaps this was deliberate, to emphasize that Jess's thinking had not matured. However, it came off to me that in many spots in the novel, the author did not know/remember how these situations would feel.
Feinberg also uses a lot of gay/trans archetypes as characters, as well as placing in the novel pretty much every shitty experience a lesbian or trans guy could have possibly had since the 1950s. Writing in absolutely as much of the "butch" experience as they possibly could. I think maybe it is that this book feels assembled rather than written that is the problem for me. Also, most of the characters indulge in a lot of annoying speechifying, especially in the latter half or third of the book. (Show, don't tell!) I can't suspend my disbelief for prose that sounds like an afterschool special.
Like Uncle Tom's Cabin, this book is propaganda dressed up as a novel. It doesn't matter that I wholeheartedly agree with the message that both books deliver (oppression is bad, all people have feelings, don't be a dick), the reason they are important works is because of the message and not for any inherent literary value.