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Opinions is an expansive look at Roxane Gay's writing, collecting articles she's written from the last 10 years. Here Gay touches on topics like police violence, the #metoo movement and outside of the strictly political we also get her thoughts books and film, celebrity interviews and advice columns.
Getting the chance to dive into Gays journalism and cultural criticism was very exciting. Gay is an incisive writer with a clarity of voice that cuts to the heart of every issue. As someone who largely agrees with her political takes and adores her razor-sharp erudite writing style this book was right up my ally. The all-inclusive approach of this collection allowed me to appreciated the expansive breadth of Gay writing. I especially loved her literary and film criticism. A favourite essay of mine was her review of Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things, a book I had never heard of before reading this but got an in-depth understanding of through Gay's exacting criticism.
However, one of the downsides of the expansive nature of the collection was that some areas of Gay writing simply didn't interest me. For example while her celebrity interviews were occasionally interesting my general lack of interest in Madonna, Sarah Paulson and the like made that section a bit of a drag.
Another flaw in the collection was that it began to feel a tad repetitive. These articles were written over the span of a decade for various different publications so they weren't designed to be read in huge chunks back to back. Gay's writing often centred around issues like racialized violence and misogyny so many of her talking points were echoed consistently throughout the book so began to feel very familiar as you read further into the collection. Overall this wasn't a huge problem because Gay's writing was so strong it was always interesting to see the different ways she articulated certain sentiments. But I would recommend pacing yourself more than I did on this read.
I'm not sure if Opinions is the best introduction to Roxane Gay's writing (for that I'd direct you to her excellent memoir Hunger) but if you're already a fan I think it's a worthwhile read. Gay is an excellent writer and being immersed in her words and opinions is always a treat.
Getting the chance to dive into Gays journalism and cultural criticism was very exciting. Gay is an incisive writer with a clarity of voice that cuts to the heart of every issue. As someone who largely agrees with her political takes and adores her razor-sharp erudite writing style this book was right up my ally. The all-inclusive approach of this collection allowed me to appreciated the expansive breadth of Gay writing. I especially loved her literary and film criticism. A favourite essay of mine was her review of Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things, a book I had never heard of before reading this but got an in-depth understanding of through Gay's exacting criticism.
However, one of the downsides of the expansive nature of the collection was that some areas of Gay writing simply didn't interest me. For example while her celebrity interviews were occasionally interesting my general lack of interest in Madonna, Sarah Paulson and the like made that section a bit of a drag.
Another flaw in the collection was that it began to feel a tad repetitive. These articles were written over the span of a decade for various different publications so they weren't designed to be read in huge chunks back to back. Gay's writing often centred around issues like racialized violence and misogyny so many of her talking points were echoed consistently throughout the book so began to feel very familiar as you read further into the collection. Overall this wasn't a huge problem because Gay's writing was so strong it was always interesting to see the different ways she articulated certain sentiments. But I would recommend pacing yourself more than I did on this read.
I'm not sure if Opinions is the best introduction to Roxane Gay's writing (for that I'd direct you to her excellent memoir Hunger) but if you're already a fan I think it's a worthwhile read. Gay is an excellent writer and being immersed in her words and opinions is always a treat.