"My hope is that by contributing a tiny piece of my story to the larger world of stories, I can help us hear and see all these stories differently."

Lidia Yuknavitch wrote a book about misfits, but rather than relying on her own narrative, she includes those of others. Constantly aware of her own privilege as a white cis woman (blond and conventionally attractive at that), relativizing her own misfit status against that of others who don't have that sort of privilege, she offers up their voices alongside her own. Not just retelling their stories, but letting them speak for themselves, speak of their own experience in their own words.

There are differences in gender, sexual orientation, and race, but there are always connecting strands between these people, all of them misfits who are still grappling with their personal history, but who have managed to channel the creative energy created by a life on the edge of society, by an existence in the margins, by not quite fitting in. Their stories are of abuse and suffering, addiction and recovery, of bodies that will not be tamed into conforming.

She speaks of her own experience, too, including events of her life which she wrote about in far more detail in her memoir, The Chronology of Water, but writes about them here by specifically putting them into the context of her creativity; showing how they all became portals for her. But there is no romanticizing of oddities, failures and mistakes: instead, she speaks her truth, and speaks it against the wide-spread monomyth of the Hero's Journey, crushing the concept of "suffering makes you stronger".

Despite having read her autobiography a while ago, on which much of The Misfit's Manifesto relies, it never felt like mere rehashing of facts. Raising up other voices who may not get the chance to be heard without the amplification Yuknavitch provides, she creates something entirely new, something encouraging and beautiful.

Very poetic rumination on what it means not to fit where you're expected to fit. Yuknavitch has had a rough life, and writes about it frankly and with great forgiveness and love.

Phenomenal writer who speaks from the depths of her experience. "I'm not the story you made of me." So much of this book rings of Pema Chadron's thoughts on the moment when things fall apart... That those who have seen the darkest sides of humanity and lived to tell the tale then actually can provide strength and compassion in a way others cannot. Also loved two sections (bookmarked in audiobook so I have no idea how else to find them). 1. Where she describes how her mother soldiered through her extreme pain without any complaint. 2. How she explained the end of her second marriage, having felt love so deeply but thinking she didn't deserve it or could find anything else like it and therefore severing ties felt like cutting off both of her own arms and driving away in a beat up truck. That.

Insightful and evocative look at misfits in our society.

First off, the author makes it clear that not everyone is a misfit. This isn't about making the term more acceptable. I am not a misfit just because I have some quirks or sometimes feel like I don't fit in. A misfit is a person who truly feels alien from society. Who doesn't find their tribe of people, their community. Who takes a wholly different path in life that is often viewed as wrong.

The book has chapters on different aspects but also includes first person narratives from students in the authors writing classes. Those narratives provide a more balanced view of misfits beyond just the author's view.

I didn't expect to be so pulled in by this book. I'm not a misfit. But I was struck by how insightful her critiques are - of our society's fixation on the hero journey to the detriment of misfits and many others; of how our judgments are so harmful to misfits trying to find their way.

The book is a larger expansion on her Ted talk and is actually published by Ted. Pretty short, quick read, and definitely will leave you thinking.

This was a very general, easy read. While I understand how some can find this enjoyable, I found it a little repetitive at times for the overarching idea. I probably could have just watched her TED talk and gathered her story from there.