Shrill

Quite enjoyed listening to this audiobook because Lindy is always a very fun narrator. And while discussing myriad topics like her experiences with fat shaming, abortion, comedy, grief and death, rape culture, internet trolls and more, she gives us a lot to relate to and think about, while being laugh out loud funny as well as making us sad and enraged at moments. I've now finished all of her books and can't wait to see what she decides to write next.

I'm so glad I read this. Lindy West has a way of saying important things in an engaging, witty way. And she's extremely talented at conveying opinions on controversial topics in a way that emphasizes human connection and kindness.

The book starts out incisive and funny, and moves pretty steadily toward incisive and upsetting (but with sprinkles of mordant humor). By “upsetting,” I mean it made me concerned, angry, and finally empathetically sad. Not in bad ways, but the tone definitely shifts away from lighthearted. The later chapters cover West's struggles to shift comedy culture, and then her very personal challenges with her romantic partner and dealing with her dad's death.

I actually don't always align with West's opinions and priorities throughout her essays, but even when I see an issue from a slightly different angle, her personally engaging stories create room for compelling reflection.

For as long as I've been part of the size acceptance movement (oh, excuse me, it's “body positive” now!), I've read surprisingly few books about it or by its leaders. I consider Lindy West one of those leaders. Just by being “loud,” happy, feminist, and unapologetically fat, she is a role model.

While parts of this book are about gut-wrenchingly sad times in her life, this is overall a very upbeat book. Lindy is funny even when she's talking about terrible things. I caught a couple of minor “oopsies” as far as the narration goes, but that just made her more real as a person to me.

Another thing that I encountered in this book as a first: she's been subjected to even more online harassment, stalking, and threats than I have, which is rare. She became a target by being a fat journalist, and then really gathered the ire of the neckbeards living in their parents' basements by standing up against rape jokes. I hate that she's experiencing it, but it felt good to commiserate with her, so to speak.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Really enjoyed this - the author reads the audio version and does a great job. Favorite chapters: Lindy vs. Dan Savage, the chapter about her abortion, and the chapter about the loss of her dad, which was heartbreaking.

(Bookriot Read Harder 2016 Challenge: #3 Read a collection of essays, and #19 Read a nonfiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes)

This is one of the better essay collections I've read in a long while; it's a blade of sharp feminist commentary with edges of laugh-out-loud humor that just gauges misogyny. West is unapologetic and completely vulnerable yet so so funny in a way that, combined together, is true tour de force. She touches on fat acceptance as a feminist issue, the male dominance of the comedy world, and facing a daily deluge of the most boorish variety of internet trolls. Her writing is similar to what I aspire mine to be, and #motherfuckinggirlpower, so this was such an empowering read for me. I can see why this inspired so many podcast segments and a Hulu series (which, by the way, is also the bomb).

Lindy West's reflections on growing up and living life as a fat woman who writes commentary and comedy for the internet and TV. The essays about her girlhood are funny and poignant, but a couple of the essays about her work and life as an adult are gems of writing about vocation. She's a hilarious and humane person, and I really enjoyed reading this little book.

This was a really brilliant memoir. I got it randomly as a blind date book, and it's pretty amazing how well it aligned to my own philosophy. West writes candidly of her life growing up as a woman with all of the shame American society places on that. She shares the story of her career and how that career turned into a miniature crusade against intolerance for women, fat people, and people of color. She calls out even her heroes on behavior that is damaging to society, and she does it all with a set of Disney references that made me spit milk out my nose. Yes! Brother John is played by the actor bear Baloo who also plays himself in The Jungle Book. OBVIOUSLY!

After I read the book, I immediately passed it on to share the sit and philosophy it gave me. I think anyone could enjoy reading it, but it is particularly meaningful to other shrill women who will not be boxed in.

I'm already familiar with Lindy West from her online presence/NPR appearances/etc so I was pretty sure I'd like this book, and I loved it. It wasn't necessarily anything new or surprising to me, but I still loved it and definitely both LOL'd and cried at various essays in here. If you're already a fan of Lindy West it's nice just to dig in and read a bunch of her stuff at once. If you've never read anything from her at all...first of all are you sure, because if you have the internet I bet you have...but second of all it could serve as a decent feminism/fat acceptance primer if you're new here. Or it's just a nice validating read if you're already on board.

The world is such a fucking terrible place often. How does Lindy wrote about it without despairing? Having a life off the internet I guess (but oooooh how I wanted her to mail all the hate mail she got from the rape joke summer to Jim.)

Also, this is the second time I've come across this variation of “being a feminist is just coming to the slow realization that everything you love hates you” and it still crushes me. Fuck.

It took me a month to read this because I have to read an essay, think about it for awhile and then read another essay. I'm not going to lie, I didn't enjoy many of the essays in this collection. I have actually seen videos of Lindy West telling stories and maybe it's her delivery, but they seemed more powerful to me. Two in I regretted not getting this in audio book format. Oh, well. A solid 4 stars because I did get something out of it and I'm glad to recommend it to interested readers.