I recently found a quasi-local feminist book store that was starting a book club and Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti was their first selection. Since the book store is in a college town, this book must have been a good choice because it seems to be aimed at college age women. I am not part of the target crowd and wasn’t terribly impressed.

Valenti breaks feminism down to its core elements and explains it well enough. She even uses a dialog that is conversational and makes no apologies for her use of profanity. I actually found the tone enjoyable and very easy to read. Most of the major misunderstandings about feminism are addressed and she admits where more work is needed. So, what didn’t I like: if you are a conservative Christian you can just fuck off. Yes, we need to come together and fight the good fight but don’t you dare be, date, or fuck a Republican. Way to bring all sides together. Good job. I also found it irritating that she would argue against calling women names on one page and then turn around on the very next page and call a senator a jackass. Good job proving that feminist aren’t man haters. Let’s all respect each other and have a dialog except for that jackass. Hypocritical much?

I found the entire notion of feminism making me better at sex just silly. Self-confidence and knowing what I want from my partners makes me better at sex. The idea that feminism is responsible for that seems like a notion that only an academic would dream up. Like I said, I’m not the target audience for this book. Maybe college students need to hear that feminism makes them better at sex, I just don’t buy it.

So, who is this book for? I would say that anybody knows absolutely nothing to very little about feminism could start here. It does address a great many topics and stereotypes about feminism and it is a very quick and easy read.

I should add that I read an older edition of the book. While looking for a copy of the book for the book club meeting I noticed that an updated edition was about to be released. My book club was meeting before that edition was released (why would you pick a book that was about to be updated) so I read the earlier edition. I ended up missing the book club meeting due to a family medical emergency and it seems going to that meeting was the only way to find out the next book or anything else about the club. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

I finished this book late last year. I probably should have sat down and wrote something about it immediately because I was feeling very meh about it. This was Book Riot’s third selection in the Riot Read Book Club and I’d have to say that I wouldn’t have picked it up if they hadn’t sent it to me. I don’t think I would have missed anything. It’s basically about Iris and Eva, two sisters that don’t learn that they share a dad until his wife dies and Eva’s mother leaves her with him. Eventually, they run away to 1940’s Hollywood. I’m not going to go into detail about what happens after that because I don’t really remember much of it. I felt zero connection to any of the characters and just kind of muddled through the book. If it hadn’t been so short I probably wouldn’t have finished it at all. Yeah, probably should have written some stuff down when I finished it.