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kyatic's Reviews (974)
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for my honest review.
So. This book isn't bad, per se. It was a quick read, largely because of the informal, conversational tone of the author, and I definitely feel like I learnt a lot from it. This sort of book is so timely and necessary. We all need to understand one another better, and there really is no better way to foster empathy than by reading and listening to the actual words of others and their lived experiences. I'm genuinely thankful that books like this are being published and that I got a chance to read it, and I would absolutely recommend it as a book which gives a vital window into the life of someone with autism who is also trans.
That said, the quality of this book leaves much to be desired. Reading it, I was convinced it was a first draft and not an ARC. Entire paragraphs are essentially rephrased and repeated; Dale makes a point and then she makes it again. She writes near the end of the book that she wrote 4 chapters on one train ride, and it honestly shows in the quality of her writing. I was surprised to read that she makes a living writing about video games, because the standard of writing here really is very poor. I feel that Dale has a great story to tell and I wish that the publisher had given her more help to tell it, because she is in need of an editor who will be more sensitive to her narrative and shape it into the book that this deserves to be.
As it stands, this book has a lot of potential and I think it needs to be published to further a necessary conversation, but I really feel that it needed a lot more editorial work.
So. This book isn't bad, per se. It was a quick read, largely because of the informal, conversational tone of the author, and I definitely feel like I learnt a lot from it. This sort of book is so timely and necessary. We all need to understand one another better, and there really is no better way to foster empathy than by reading and listening to the actual words of others and their lived experiences. I'm genuinely thankful that books like this are being published and that I got a chance to read it, and I would absolutely recommend it as a book which gives a vital window into the life of someone with autism who is also trans.
That said, the quality of this book leaves much to be desired. Reading it, I was convinced it was a first draft and not an ARC. Entire paragraphs are essentially rephrased and repeated; Dale makes a point and then she makes it again. She writes near the end of the book that she wrote 4 chapters on one train ride, and it honestly shows in the quality of her writing. I was surprised to read that she makes a living writing about video games, because the standard of writing here really is very poor. I feel that Dale has a great story to tell and I wish that the publisher had given her more help to tell it, because she is in need of an editor who will be more sensitive to her narrative and shape it into the book that this deserves to be.
As it stands, this book has a lot of potential and I think it needs to be published to further a necessary conversation, but I really feel that it needed a lot more editorial work.
This is a weird one. I agree with some of the other reviewers that this didn't necessarily need to be a book and would perhaps have worked better as a long-form essay; some of the points were a little meandering, and the attempts to structure the book into chapters based on reactive emotion didn't really work for me because there was so much overlap between them. Still, it's a short and engaging read, and I'd quite like to have a paper copy of it so that I could highlight all the sections that stood out to me.
This is the first book I've read about the coronavirus pandemic, and for that reason alone, I think it'll stick with me. Shafak's writing is beautiful - I've not ready any of her novels yet, but this book definitely makes me want to move them up to to-read list - and concise, and she engages with political theory in a way that makes it understandable and relevant. I'm not sure she really says anything new in this book; I think we all know, at this point, that social media is a force for both good and evil, and that being perpetually angry isn't particularly useful unless we implement that anger, but she says it well.
This is the first book I've read about the coronavirus pandemic, and for that reason alone, I think it'll stick with me. Shafak's writing is beautiful - I've not ready any of her novels yet, but this book definitely makes me want to move them up to to-read list - and concise, and she engages with political theory in a way that makes it understandable and relevant. I'm not sure she really says anything new in this book; I think we all know, at this point, that social media is a force for both good and evil, and that being perpetually angry isn't particularly useful unless we implement that anger, but she says it well.
As with all anthologies, there are some particular entries in here which stood out among the rest, but every single chapter in this book is illuminating and necessary. I read the whole thing in one sitting and will absolutely be reading it again, as soon as I've loaned it to everyone in my life. I can't recommend it enough.