Girls Can Kiss Now
2022 • 240 pages
Ratings9
Average rating4
15
Ratings9
Average rating4
A "collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, relationships, pop culture, the Internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today. Jill Gutowitz's life--for better and worse--has always been on a collision course with pop culture, [including] ... the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill's own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I am the target audience...and consider it reached. As a lesbian millennial, the exploration of cultural themes felt all too relatable. Gutowitz has a striking voice that verges on funny while also exploring fear, anger, and hopelessness, and somehow she manages to encapsulate the 2000s vibe (sprinkle in a little 90s and onward) in a stunning collection of essays. Few parts fell flat, but on the whole I loved this book which made my lesbian heart happy.
DNF at 60%. There are some moments of pretty solid insight and a handful of quotable lines in there but there's also a lot of rather banal takes and fluff and I found myself putting it down every few pages. Also, there's nothing more boring to me than a member of the LGBTQ community clinging with the energy of despair to making Harry Potter references so that didn't help my interest level here.
No rating.
this is like lesbianism watered down for your favorite twitter feminist woke bi girl in a het relationship. im homophobic now thank you dnf @ 6%
whew this was so intensely relatable. i'm wondering how this would translate to a different audience, but it's hard for me to imagine, being the exact age and specific demographic that the author is, i felt this deeply. i think the only thing holding me back from 5 stars was that the boomeranging from millennial humor essays to a very deep essay about jill's experience being raped by her male partner before she came out as a lesbian, felt slightly jarring in contrast. and here's the thing about essays and biographies that are so hard - i can't really put a rating or tell someone how they should or shouldn't share their life story. but i think that was just especially hard to reconcile with the rest of the essays presented here. it was a bit of a emotional whiplash. also i'm kind of a lowkey anti-swiftie (if there is such a thing, more like i just don't care abt her or her fans lol) soz but other than that though, wow this book saw me.
