I could have read the summary of this and gleaned just as much from it that I did reading the entire book. Repetitive and overwritten. The concepts arI could have read the summary of this and gleaned just as much from it that I did reading the entire book. Repetitive and overwritten. The concepts are good, but it reads way too much like a lecture to really land with the lay person....more
This is one of those memoirs that I feel would have hit different if this person wasn’t so young and new to fame. My constant gripe with people writinThis is one of those memoirs that I feel would have hit different if this person wasn’t so young and new to fame. My constant gripe with people writing about their life in this way is that there isn’t enough space or time to really let the stories marinade and become something worth telling to a large audience. There’s some anecdotes in here that feel like they would be better kept close to the chest until a later date, namely the story on ayahuasca.
Despite the timing of it all, I enjoyed getting to pop inside Dylan’s head and hear about her inner world as she navigated her rise to unintended fame. She is incredibly funny and positive in unexpected ways and I would be willing to hear more from her in the future when there is more story to tell.
Half of this essay collection was wit sharp, funny, and made me think long and hard about the topics at hand. The other half were meandering, wordy, aHalf of this essay collection was wit sharp, funny, and made me think long and hard about the topics at hand. The other half were meandering, wordy, and at times boring. It took me so long to finish this because of that wandering. The titular essay, Authority, was particularly boring for me and made me want to DNF the entire collection. While I understand its merit, I could have done with getting to the point sooner.
Chu has a distinct knack for the takedown of an author, and while you may not agree with her criticism, you can't argue that she isn't insightful, thoughtful, and well-researched. She has perfected the hateful deep dive, and that is a skill I have to respect. The essay on Ottessa Moshfegh is the standout here, although I had read this one before in 2022 when it was originally published in Vulture.
Overall, I think this is a get-it-from-the-library read or seek out some of Chu's writing on the internet before deciding if her writing style is right for you....more
I wanted to love this, but unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me.
I was hoping we would spend more time talking about the thing that makes Neko uniI wanted to love this, but unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me.
I was hoping we would spend more time talking about the thing that makes Neko unique - her incredible songwriting, her magnetic stage presence, the way she carved out a space for herself in an industry and a genre that rarely made space for women, but instead we got a lot of childhood trauma and a skimming of her songwriting days.
This was partially my bad, because the description does clearly state that this is mostly about her abusive childhood, but I expected more a tie in of that with her current day existence and we don't really get that until she brings one topic - horses - full circle....more
This set of essays actually had something to say, and they were filled with insights that dug below the surface level of pop culture. While some of thThis set of essays actually had something to say, and they were filled with insights that dug below the surface level of pop culture. While some of the same names are brought up for their corresponding buzzword topics, I felt that the other references that Gilbert included were original and poignant in a way that showed me she had been there at ground zero of these concepts forming, and she had taken notes.
In particular, the way she explored porn as a topic made me go to the back and write down her sources because she made me want to do academic research.
My biggest issue with feminist leaning essays like these is that they fall into that repetitive, trite trap and these absolutely did not.
Gilbert feels like she studied at the Jia Tolentino school of having an original thought, and for that alone: 4 stars....more
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