Bachelor Nation

This book pretty much capitulates all the desires I've had to intellectualize my love of The Bachelor franchise, giving the proper history, context, and – of course – juicy backstage details. I couldn't put it down.

The introduction made me wary; Kaufman's fun and approachable style – the kind you'd find in a Cosmo article (not that this is necessarily negative; after all, I do indulge in Cosmo... let's just say I have my fair share of guilty pleasures) – made me wary that this book would be another mindless capitalization of us franchise-obsessed suckers who will guzzle everything Bach-related, even if it's ditzy and objectively terrible (cough every Bachelor/Bachelorette memoir I've ever read cough) (Side note: big proponent of reading whatever the hell makes you happy to read, regardless of how dumb it is or what someone else might think of you... but pro tip: buy those ones for your kindle).

But this book did not disappoint. If anything, it blew my expectations away with an expert balance of history, expose, personal conceit, and scholarly reflection. Particularly hitting home were the words of one quoted feminist scholar: ‘It almost seems to be less about The Bachelor and more about this idea in the past few years that if you identify as a feminist, you somehow have to justify everything you consume...people really feel like their consumption patterns have to be explained as part of a larger identity.' Um – YES. Emoji clap, emoji clap, emoji clap. This book helped me come to terms with that innate need by making me realize that I don't need to come to terms with it. We're allowed to have guilty pleasures, and I reserve this as mine. Though some may scoff that I can continue watching the show knowing what I know – I will do so just as Kaufman does, because I can separate it from my intellectual and feminist aspirations. Plus, my dad and I watch it together and I just can't leave him hanging.