today, i think i'll go for a walk and just sit there and think about this book and its incredible insight. thank you ms odell, for putting words to what i couldn't voice before.
i wanted to like this book, but i found i just wasn't as dark and gritty as i needed. there's no dispute that what the men did was wrong or that the women have the right to react harshly, or debate over the theological dominion of men over women. what i was really looking for was a book that really challenged the central ideas of patriarchal religions, but this just didn't cut it.
an interesting reflection on cancel culture, but, like most books from this section of the left, would have loved to have had it be more substantive. a lot of concepts introduced but not fully fleshed out or reflected on. which is a shame, because i think there's a lot of depth to this topic which this book began to introduce.
(also: i would love to hear her discuss her thoughts on abusers in more depth, because whilst i don't want to mischaracterise her, i think some of her perspectives are not merely wrong but at times actively harmful, but i also don't think i've ever heard anyone with this perspective discuss it in depth, which might mean i'm missing something important!)
a classic, but not a particularly good one; probably great at the time but very much a historical text - i found it to be quite dull and probably a somewhat inferior text to other analyses of politics since. however, as a groundbreaking text, i suppose it holds much credit simply in pioneering many of its ideas, and on the meta-level i found the way machiavelli constructs the 'virtus' as the synthesis between moral and practical achievement to be interesting.
emilia was the best character no contest (close second place to desdemona)
on a serious note, an excellent play, but he's written better, and it really took until the second half (especially acts 4 & 5) for the play to truly develop its biting emotional core. still, when it emerged, it was amazing, and there's a reason why shakespeare is the greatest playwright!
fabulously depressing, valley of the dolls is the perfect showbusiness corruption story. it highlights the decadence and alienation of the entertainment industry, whilst also commenting on the social restrictions placed on women in this era - all in a very camp manner (probably not intended, but a highlight nonetheless). i loved jennifer and anne (and had a love-hate relationship with neely), and found their stories fascinating. an intimately camp portrait of a descent into, well, the valley of the dolls.