I finished this book over a week ago, loved loved loved it, but then life happened and now I’m 7 books behind on my reviews again. But let me just say, I know most of y’all’s tastes by now, and I think you’d really like this one. It’s like a super angry version of Feminist Fight Club.
“Consider this book, then, a feminist anatomy of the trainwreck. It’s an effort to figure out who she is: why she’s making us so angry; what, in general, she hath done to offend us. These are questions of more immediate and personal relevance than you may think: When women look hard enough at the trainwreck, we almost invariably end up looking at ourselves.”
So, trainwrecks in popular culture. What do you think of, besides the Amy Schumer movie? Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse? Sady Doyle examines each of these women, in addition to countless others from current culture back to “the original trainwreck”: Mary Wollstonecraft. She talks about what society does to these women, how we treat them before and after their downfalls, and how incredibly different their experiences might have (would have) been different if they’d been men.
“Women who have succeeded too well at becoming visible have always been penalized vigilantly and forcefully, and turned into spectacles.”
The writing is incredible, her references are spot on (so much about poor Britney), and I felt constantly amazed at how MAD it made me, even as I laughed at her dark humor. It’s an excellent read for anyone, but if there’s an angry feminist in you, you’ll particularly enjoy it.