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A review by mediaevalmuse
The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente
5.0
Wow, did this book pack an emotional punch that I was not at all prepared for. I mean... I kind of was... I expected a lot of righteous feminist rage (my favorite kind), but after I finished reading, I was left with such a feeling of something like sadness - sadness for all these characters who were near and dear to my heart, as a major comic book fan. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in superhero comics and responses to antifeminist tropes in storytelling.
Things I Liked
1. Oral Quality: The prose of this book is ripe for actual performance - like (unsurprisingly) a monologue. Valente uses a lot of short phrases, alliteration, and interesting breaks to make each section sound like something that is meant to be read aloud (as opposed to silently).
2. Weirdness: The overall structure of this book is that 6 dead women are telling their stories while sitting around in a cafe in the afterlife. As a result, there are a lot of weird references to daily activities: underworld bands playing songs that have been forgotten over time, food made from animals/plants that have gone extinct or recipes that have been lost, gargoyles named Neil. It reminded me a lot of the fantasy works of Neil Gaiman or China Mieville, and I loved the quirkiness of it all.
3. Emotion: While some character are (rightfully) full of rage over their deaths, there’s a lot more than just anger in each story. Frequently, I felt a sense of loss, grief, etc. for each character’s lost potential - and I think that’s deliberate. Because each of these stories is meant to give a voice to comic book women who don’t get their own stories, their deaths feel more tragic while also highlighting how much work comic book storytelling needs to do to do female characters justice.
4. Illustration: The book contains illustrations by artist Annie Wu, which are not only fun to look at, but really underscore how this book is about comics. I love Wu’s style, and I also really love that the book ends with an image of all the women smiling together. It doesn’t quite alleviate the sadness from the rest of the book, but it does give readers some ray of happiness in an otherwise dark series of stories.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Sameness: While each character isn’t the same person or even the same archetype, I do feel like there was missed opportunity for a bit more diversity in terms of narrative voice. Many of the women seemed to have the same angry, punk-rock, witty comeback type of narration, which is fine, but it did make we want to see more of a range to reflect various kinds of personalities.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in comic books, women in comic books, feminism, rebuttals to antifeminist tropes, and Iconic Marvel/DC characters, particularly Gwen Stacy, Jean Grey, Harley Quinn, Mera, Karen Paige, and Alexandra DeWitt.
Things I Liked
1. Oral Quality: The prose of this book is ripe for actual performance - like (unsurprisingly) a monologue. Valente uses a lot of short phrases, alliteration, and interesting breaks to make each section sound like something that is meant to be read aloud (as opposed to silently).
2. Weirdness: The overall structure of this book is that 6 dead women are telling their stories while sitting around in a cafe in the afterlife. As a result, there are a lot of weird references to daily activities: underworld bands playing songs that have been forgotten over time, food made from animals/plants that have gone extinct or recipes that have been lost, gargoyles named Neil. It reminded me a lot of the fantasy works of Neil Gaiman or China Mieville, and I loved the quirkiness of it all.
3. Emotion: While some character are (rightfully) full of rage over their deaths, there’s a lot more than just anger in each story. Frequently, I felt a sense of loss, grief, etc. for each character’s lost potential - and I think that’s deliberate. Because each of these stories is meant to give a voice to comic book women who don’t get their own stories, their deaths feel more tragic while also highlighting how much work comic book storytelling needs to do to do female characters justice.
4. Illustration: The book contains illustrations by artist Annie Wu, which are not only fun to look at, but really underscore how this book is about comics. I love Wu’s style, and I also really love that the book ends with an image of all the women smiling together. It doesn’t quite alleviate the sadness from the rest of the book, but it does give readers some ray of happiness in an otherwise dark series of stories.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Sameness: While each character isn’t the same person or even the same archetype, I do feel like there was missed opportunity for a bit more diversity in terms of narrative voice. Many of the women seemed to have the same angry, punk-rock, witty comeback type of narration, which is fine, but it did make we want to see more of a range to reflect various kinds of personalities.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in comic books, women in comic books, feminism, rebuttals to antifeminist tropes, and Iconic Marvel/DC characters, particularly Gwen Stacy, Jean Grey, Harley Quinn, Mera, Karen Paige, and Alexandra DeWitt.