I came at this book from a few different perspectives. The first is as an avid reader and book reviewer, the second is as someone who is currently working on an MA in art history, and lastly as someone who has previously been VERY invested in online fandom culture and who has, when I’m feeling a little toxic, argued with people on Twitter about ethical media consumption. Overall, if you’re the kind of person that feels conflicted about consuming art made by people who have done terrible things, this book is worth reading. I think Dederer’s thoughts were interesting enough to engage with, even if there didn’t seem to be a core argument she was making either way. Ultimately she’s leaving this dilemma up to the individual audience member to make their own decision, but the conversations she had along the way made me personally feel validated in my own concerns and helped me clarify my own confusion in some areas.

I’m not too convinced that chapters 9 and 10 had a place here - the discussion around how female artists are perceived as monstrous for things that we typically assume is a given for male artists (primarily, “abandoning” their kids in pursuit of their art) was a worthwhile point to make, but there was so much there that it really could have been its own book or article. I get that this was her point, but comparing women who “abandoned” their kids to rapists and bigots felt like a detraction from her thesis, which was: how do we approach art made by monstrous people? These women are not monsters even if they were perceived as such by misogynists, so it felt like a different conversation was being had.

Also, just as a side note, to the folks who are complaining about the inclusion of J.K. Rowling alongside the likes of Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, you are deeply out of touch and you’ve revealed yourself to be a TERF, just like Rowling is. J.K. Rowling’s loud and unrelenting transphobia contributes to the ongoing hostility and violence that trans people experience on a daily basis. She uses the money that YOU give her, by continuing to support her work, to fund organizations that actively want to harm trans folks. She is a monster in every sense of the word. Enjoy the nostalgia of the Harry Potter franchise all you want, but don’t come here and try to defend her actions.