overall, a really solid collection of thoughts here -- her best pieces are (unsurprisingly, i think) the ones that are the most personal: ones where she's talking about the way she's been evaluated for her appearance since childhood, where men expect access to a woman's body long before she becomes a woman, where she realizes that to be famous for one's looks is to no longer have ownership of them. "buying myself back," which initially appeared in new york magazine and was their most-read piece that year, is probably the best in the book -- it's visceral and violating to even read, let alone experience.

there are some essays that don't work, of course, and they're ones where ratajkowski isn't pushing herself. she's clearly an intelligent, thoughtful woman, but "bc hello halle berry" is particularly rough. ratajkowski remembers a vacation she was paid to take and relates conversations with her husband where she's complaining about capitalism as she posts swimsuits to instagram so she can sell more and watching her like count tick up. she juxtaposes this against a group of women in hijabs she sees on the resort beach, and she reflects on the power a woman gains by covering or not covering her body. she's unable, or unwilling, perhaps, to admit that her privilege as a famous woman is what got her this vacation, and while she's open about money in other essays, it's grating to read about her dislike of rich people when she is one. the privilege is a double-edged sword, i suppose, in that she's achieved fame by profiting off the way men look at her, simultaneously taking back power and losing it.

this book isn't groundbreaking, it's not going to reframe how we think about power or beautiful women or privilege or feminism. but it is for the most part well written, deeply personal, and moving. a good read.