MEAN is author Myriam Gurba's memoir about coming of age as a mixed race queer Chicana. She looks back at her childhood and teen years through the lens of the repeated assaults on her body she endured. It's a look at the life of a girl drowning in misogyny.

This book is incredible. Gurba's writing is next-level. Her words hold multiple meanings and call back to each other throughout the book. Layer that with her biting, black humor and MEAN is a sharp punch to the gut.

Her memories feel jumbled and yet the story unspools at a carefully determined pace. It's that way women decide whether we can only trust you with a joke about harassment we endured or with the full horror of our traumas. With this book, Gurba is trusting her readers with everything.