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> Genre: Fiction > The uncanny valley of my life.

The uncanny valley of my life.

Stray City by Chelsey Johnson

April 12, 2019 by Blingle Bells Leave a Comment

Have you ever had a thing that’s so much yours that you’re prickly about it? A hobby that you’re into so much more than just casually that you can’t listen to other people discuss it casually? Something you feel protective of, defensive about, proprietary toward? That you can’t discuss with (almost) anyone else because they will not be on the same level as you and that’ll make you feel weird? And you feel almost angry if you hear someone else talking about like it’s theirs to talk about, because it’s yours?

It’s a unique experience. I’ve felt that way about a handful of things over the years. This book is now one of them. So you can imagine that writing a review of it is difficult. I struggle to recommend it to anyone because it would feel like letting them unzip my skull and go in with spelunking gear. It feels way too intimate. It also feels like if someone did read it, we could skip several steps in our getting-to-know yous because they would essentially already know me.

Another way this book feels: like I wrote down my own autobiography in agonizing detail, cut out every sentence, put them in a mixing bowl, stirred them up, laid them out and rearranged them to make a coherent narrative. It’s the uncanny valley of my life. Would you want someone to read an alternate reality version of your life? If so, who would you pick to read it?

So, to put it mildly, this is my new favorite book, effortlessly overtaking 27 years of reading material. It’s about a lesbian in 1990s Portland who has an encounter with a cis guy, gets pregnant, and has a baby. A decade or so later, her daughter has questions. I think this book will continue to be important to me for the rest of my life.

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: 1990's, Chelsey Johnson, Lesbians, Oregon, Parenting, Portland, stray city

Blingle Bells's CBR11 Review No:7 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: 1990's, Chelsey Johnson, Lesbians, Oregon, Parenting, Portland, stray city ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

About Blingle Bells

CBR13 participantCBR12 participantCBR11 participantCBR10 participantCBR  9CBR 8

Bio mom to a wild-haired five-year-old spitfire, foster mom to a three-year-old hooligan. Wife to a nurse. I spend my days tripping over dogs and putting out fires. View Blingle Bells's reviews»

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Recent Comments

  • LanierHgts on I hated this book and I could not stop reading itAwww thanks! I read this earlier this year but just got to reviewing it now because I needed to think about it. As I was...
  • Emmalita on I hated this book and I could not stop reading itThis is a great review. "Beautifully written, but I hated it" is a real reader dilemma.
  • esmemoria on “As any magician knows, it is not the smoke and mirrors that trick people; it is that the human mind makes assumptions and misunderstands them as truths.”I don't usually like memoirs either, but this one sounds really intriguing.
  • LanierHgts on I hated this book and I could not stop reading itThanks! It took me a while to figure out how to say it. I wish I had liked it. It is so beautifully written.
  • narfna on A surprisingly earnest (and not surprisingly literal) exploration of the Bible.It is a forgettable book to have on the shelf, as you can tell by my having only read it after a very long period,...
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