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readthesparrow's reviews
250 reviews
Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
This review is based on an eARC provided by the publisher.
REVIEW
REVIEW
I’m a bit ashamed to admit this was the first of Butler I’d read. I’ve been meaning to read Gender Trouble for ages (despite the fact it is a little outdated, as Butler themself admits), but haven’t managed to get around to it yet.
That said, I feel Who’s Afraid of Gender? is a book that anyone interested in the emerging authoritarian right-wing movement globally needs to read. Butler’s discussion of gender as a phantasm is a really useful tool for discussing the weaponization and demonization of gender broadly. In their acknowledgements, Butler discusses the scholars who helped them with this book–even without seeing the list of names, though, it was very clear that this text was written with real nuance and care and conversation with a global scholarly community.
Butler breaks down the mass of the gender phantasm, examining the ways different institutions and movements utilize contradictions within the phantasm as ways to displace very real fears about war, cultural change, the climate, and colonialism onto vulnerable populations.
My personal favorite chapter was “Foreign Terms, or the Disturbance of Translation Conclusion: The Fear of Destruction, the Struggle to Imagine.” I’m someone who loves talking about and thinking about language and translation, so this chapter was right up my alley. Butler discusses the interaction of language and gender as an English/Western construction that exists as both a colonialist and anti-colonialist concept. They also question the very act of gendering as an act of translation--how do we translate ourselves to each other? How do we translate the performance of others? And how does our translation of that performance change over time and context (and, yes, language)?
If you want answers for any of this, you won't get it here. With Who's Afraid of Gender?, Butler is more interested in examining the construction and weaponization of the gender phantasm. The only 'answer' offered is the only one that I think is necessary for this text: a call for broad coalition that encompasses everyone who fights for equity and against injustice.
If you want answers for any of this, you won't get it here. With Who's Afraid of Gender?, Butler is more interested in examining the construction and weaponization of the gender phantasm. The only 'answer' offered is the only one that I think is necessary for this text: a call for broad coalition that encompasses everyone who fights for equity and against injustice.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Who’s Afraid of Gender? is a vital crossroad that I see as becoming a new cornerstone in how we discuss gender as a political, social, and cultural phenomenon.
That said, it is nonfiction written by a scholar. That means the text can be difficult to get through at times, even if you are someone who does like academic writing. Be prepared to possibly have to look up a lot of terminology.
Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley. If you are interested in Who’s Afraid of Gender?, the book releases 19 March 2024.
Find more information from the publishers [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374608224/whosafraidofgender]. If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org!
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Would have been a solid 3.5 stars, if Harry wasn't so weird about women every five seconds.
The Dresden Files Collection 1-6 by Jim Butcher
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Read through the first book and needed to return the collection. I'll read the other ones later.
By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A pretty decent legal thriller! Though there were some sticking points for me (it was very clear the author doesn't speak AAVE and there was a lot of summary instead of narrative in the second half), I still overall enjoyed the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Stalking
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy
All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.
Just wasn't feeling the writing style and the harder sci-fi elements. I'll return to this book someday.
D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
If this book wasn’t about lesbians it would be zero stars.
If you want to read a book where the two main characters are constantly openly horny for each other but are also constantly hanging out with their families, I guess you might like this?
Also it’s allegedly about a reality TV show, but the execution of the whole “we are constantly being filmed and performing who we are” was so lackluster and confusing and… barely there? That it made me so frustrated. The characters motivations were told to us (basically everything that happens is told, not shown or developed) but those motivations barely made any sense because they aren’t developed or explored.
As it is, D’vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding was a frustrating slog to get through. I won’t say much else because frankly it might just be a matter of taste (I read this hoping it would make me like contemporary romance, no points for guessing how that ended up).
Also: a globe is already round. It’s a globe.
Also also: I thought we all agreed to leave calling eyes “[color] orbs” behind in the hellscape of 2010s Wattpad boy band Y/N fics, where that particular terrible turn of phrase belongs?
If you want to read a book where the two main characters are constantly openly horny for each other but are also constantly hanging out with their families, I guess you might like this?
Also it’s allegedly about a reality TV show, but the execution of the whole “we are constantly being filmed and performing who we are” was so lackluster and confusing and… barely there? That it made me so frustrated. The characters motivations were told to us (basically everything that happens is told, not shown or developed) but those motivations barely made any sense because they aren’t developed or explored.
As it is, D’vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding was a frustrating slog to get through. I won’t say much else because frankly it might just be a matter of taste (I read this hoping it would make me like contemporary romance, no points for guessing how that ended up).
Also: a globe is already round. It’s a globe.
Also also: I thought we all agreed to leave calling eyes “[color] orbs” behind in the hellscape of 2010s Wattpad boy band Y/N fics, where that particular terrible turn of phrase belongs?
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This entire series is not only one of the best manga series I have ever read, but also some of the best fantasy.
It's also a perfect first manga series for someone looking to get into reading manga; the character design, writing, and art style are all genuinely fantastic (seriously, Ryoko Kui is a master of designing different fantasy races and actually having them each look recognizably different in subtle ways).
Marcille best girl, Chilchuck best boy, everyone read this series and enjoy monster meals!!!!
It's also a perfect first manga series for someone looking to get into reading manga; the character design, writing, and art style are all genuinely fantastic (seriously, Ryoko Kui is a master of designing different fantasy races and actually having them each look recognizably different in subtle ways).
Marcille best girl, Chilchuck best boy, everyone read this series and enjoy monster meals!!!!