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sucreslibrary's reviews
1219 reviews
Blackouts by Justin Torres
4.0
a very beautiful book and the mixed media added quite a lot to the experience. I borrowed this one from the library and definitely want my own copy to really soak in and absorb a lot of what the work is saying
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence by Rosemary Curb, Nancy Manahan
this isn't a book I feel particularly comfortable rating, so I'm choosing not to.
the things i get out of reading works like these is a sense of community, of at least knowing that there have always been people out there that have felt as I did, that have dealt with extreme homophobia and misogyny and still chosen to follow their true selves despite the immense pain. it also felt calming to read about these women who have job hopped and changed their careers so frequently and are still happy with their lives. im currently unemployed and have been struggling, so it was surprisingly comforting to read the lists of the many different jobs these women have held. I also really liked the photos being included - it's fun seeing older lesbian fashion and hairstyles!
this isn't a book i'd recommend reading all in one go, or even over the course of two days like I did. a lot of the beats are the same, even though the perspectives are all unique, and it can start to run together quickly. the writing quality is a mixed bag. i did feel like I learned a lot about Catholicism and nuns, subjects I'm not very well-versed in. it was interesting learning about how different all of their experiences could be, and how the idea of lesbianism or "particular friendships" was handled in different convents. a few of the sections that really lost me focused more on mysticism, and one in particular was just a woman's dream diary + her own interpretations of her dreams that was incredibly tiring to read.
reading any kind of historical lesbian work requires a good understanding of the politics of the time as well as different movements that existed in the community. this book, being published in the 80s and largely speaking to lesbians who came out in the 60s or 70s, pays a lot of lip service to lesbian separatist movements and feminine spirituality. one of the former nuns interviewed is Janice Raymond, author of the Transsexual Empire and notorious TERF and SWERF (she claims to be the first person to be given the TERF label) who is responsible for a lot of the current talking points around trans identities and transitioning. these talking points have led to very real bodily harm inflicted on trans women, both by their communities and their governments. by now I'm used to running into these issues while reading historical lesbian texts, but felt it's worth mentioning for anyone who maybe was interested in this and wouldn't be as aware. I think it's important to know the history that precedes us, including the incredibly harmful parts, so I find merit in reading these works even though I do not agree with a lot of the beliefs the women in them uphold. however I do not blame anyone who does not want to touch a work associated with such a notoriously vile person. her interview being the closing chapter was was a truly sour ending to the collection.
the things i get out of reading works like these is a sense of community, of at least knowing that there have always been people out there that have felt as I did, that have dealt with extreme homophobia and misogyny and still chosen to follow their true selves despite the immense pain. it also felt calming to read about these women who have job hopped and changed their careers so frequently and are still happy with their lives. im currently unemployed and have been struggling, so it was surprisingly comforting to read the lists of the many different jobs these women have held. I also really liked the photos being included - it's fun seeing older lesbian fashion and hairstyles!
this isn't a book i'd recommend reading all in one go, or even over the course of two days like I did. a lot of the beats are the same, even though the perspectives are all unique, and it can start to run together quickly. the writing quality is a mixed bag. i did feel like I learned a lot about Catholicism and nuns, subjects I'm not very well-versed in. it was interesting learning about how different all of their experiences could be, and how the idea of lesbianism or "particular friendships" was handled in different convents. a few of the sections that really lost me focused more on mysticism, and one in particular was just a woman's dream diary + her own interpretations of her dreams that was incredibly tiring to read.
reading any kind of historical lesbian work requires a good understanding of the politics of the time as well as different movements that existed in the community. this book, being published in the 80s and largely speaking to lesbians who came out in the 60s or 70s, pays a lot of lip service to lesbian separatist movements and feminine spirituality. one of the former nuns interviewed is Janice Raymond, author of the Transsexual Empire and notorious TERF and SWERF (she claims to be the first person to be given the TERF label) who is responsible for a lot of the current talking points around trans identities and transitioning. these talking points have led to very real bodily harm inflicted on trans women, both by their communities and their governments. by now I'm used to running into these issues while reading historical lesbian texts, but felt it's worth mentioning for anyone who maybe was interested in this and wouldn't be as aware. I think it's important to know the history that precedes us, including the incredibly harmful parts, so I find merit in reading these works even though I do not agree with a lot of the beliefs the women in them uphold. however I do not blame anyone who does not want to touch a work associated with such a notoriously vile person. her interview being the closing chapter was was a truly sour ending to the collection.
The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
2.5
it probably says something about me that i found 'come closer' to be so much sexier than the book about sex magic.
not sure what i expected from this one except for it to be a little bit weirder? the sex aspects of this almost felt quaint in how mundane they were. i could have seen this being made as a film in the 70s or 80s and it being seen as a little more revolutionary back then (though there were plenty of films made in those times that far eclipse the sexual content of this book!). something that really started to grate on me the further we got into the book was the descriptions of all the characters (practically every character you meet gets a full description of their body/hair/clothing), and how all the hot ones were thin (save for one exception, where one woman was "chubby") while several of the ugly characters were described as fat. a small detail, but one that i think really shows the faults of the author and a lack of expansive thinking i would want from a work meant to show so many different aspects of sex and sexual communities.
another issue i had is that it felt like so many different scenes were totally skimmed over or skipped entirely that would have made for much more interesting reading than the story loop we got stuck in of plane > meet new wacky person > eat food > sex. by the time we were flying to france i was exhausted from all the plane trips. part of what sells this kind of story loop is the characters we're meeting; they have to be extremely interesting and stand out in the reader's mind even if they're only around for a few pages. sadly, none of the characters we met really hit that bar. most of them are incredibly bland cutouts, and that includes the witch lesbian dominatrix. i actually quite disliked the scene that plays out between the MC and said witch lesbian dominatrix, and was annoyed it was the only f/f scene we got in a book so focused on sex.
i think there's a lot of great discussions around grief, and the way the MC handles her own grief and goes about opening up to others again after being alone and resentful for so long was good to see. it's probably the part of the book that's handled the best out of anything. but the twists and plot reveals landed with a dull thud for me, and i felt pretty meh on the whole thing by the time it ended. this has such a cool premise and i really wish it had been MORE - more interesting in its exploration of sex, more impactful in its story beats, more dynamic with its characters, just more of everything.
not sure what i expected from this one except for it to be a little bit weirder? the sex aspects of this almost felt quaint in how mundane they were. i could have seen this being made as a film in the 70s or 80s and it being seen as a little more revolutionary back then (though there were plenty of films made in those times that far eclipse the sexual content of this book!). something that really started to grate on me the further we got into the book was the descriptions of all the characters (practically every character you meet gets a full description of their body/hair/clothing), and how all the hot ones were thin (save for one exception, where one woman was "chubby") while several of the ugly characters were described as fat. a small detail, but one that i think really shows the faults of the author and a lack of expansive thinking i would want from a work meant to show so many different aspects of sex and sexual communities.
another issue i had is that it felt like so many different scenes were totally skimmed over or skipped entirely that would have made for much more interesting reading than the story loop we got stuck in of plane > meet new wacky person > eat food > sex. by the time we were flying to france i was exhausted from all the plane trips. part of what sells this kind of story loop is the characters we're meeting; they have to be extremely interesting and stand out in the reader's mind even if they're only around for a few pages. sadly, none of the characters we met really hit that bar. most of them are incredibly bland cutouts, and that includes the witch lesbian dominatrix. i actually quite disliked the scene that plays out between the MC and said witch lesbian dominatrix, and was annoyed it was the only f/f scene we got in a book so focused on sex.
i think there's a lot of great discussions around grief, and the way the MC handles her own grief and goes about opening up to others again after being alone and resentful for so long was good to see. it's probably the part of the book that's handled the best out of anything. but the twists and plot reveals landed with a dull thud for me, and i felt pretty meh on the whole thing by the time it ended. this has such a cool premise and i really wish it had been MORE - more interesting in its exploration of sex, more impactful in its story beats, more dynamic with its characters, just more of everything.
Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! by
3.25
this is basically a sorta autobio by the mangaka of long-running BL series "What Did You Eat Yesterday?". it's from 2005, so there's some dated humor (sexism, transmisogynistic joke near the end, arguably homophobic joke about the nature of her work), but not nearly as much as I expected + it had elements that surprised me in their more progressive nature (her being super attracted to a fat friend was refreshing to see!). it was cool seeing that the mangaka behind such a food-focused manga like WDYEY is just as into food herself and has a lot of knowledge to back it up. I also honestly appreciated her talking to her gay friend about her yaoi works and how that conversation was handled. it's got a lot of elements of 2000s josei manga that I like, so it was an enjoyable enough read for me but I wouldn't say it's a must-buy unless you're nostalgic for 2000s autobio comics or like 2000s josei as much as I do!
I Want You More by Swan Huntley
2.5
i rarely read thrillers, maybe 2 or 3 a year, so I'm not super knowledgeable on what is common for the genre or what tropes are overplayed aside from the most obvious ones. this is one that, once it really got going, I couldn't put it down but the further I get away from it the more I dislike it. I thought it was doing something interesting with the "frog boiling in water" aspect of the abuse, how it slowly ramped up until it got to truly horrible levels, and how it had the MC still have extremely complicated feelings towards her abuser. showing this with a f/f relationship was also good, and we never got a "the villainous character has been faking her attraction the whole time!" reveal like I started to worry we would. but then... that epilogue really ruined all of that! I really hate when a work tells me straight to my face "maybe this part was all a lie" instead of letting that be a more subdued theme about the nature of memory and retellings. with that epilogue, and with some other elements of this, I don't think I can say it really respected and handled the nature of abusive relationships well. it felt severely cheapened by the end and like it was just being used for shock factor. I don't think a victim has to be "perfect" in that they're allowed to fight back, make "wrong" decisions, etc., but the ending felt like it was really painting the MC in a certain light and I didn't appreciate it. it also just felt out-of-character after being with this woman for so long and seeing how her brain worked.
I understand where a lot of people have issues with her, thinking she's extremely gullible and dumb, but with the last chunk of the book before the epilogue I found it harder to slight her. I think her decisions were largely born out of grief and desperation, and I don't enjoy blaming her for the abuse she eventually suffered due to her falling under the spell of a manipulative person. I think if the book had leaned into that more (while still allowing her to be a not-perfect victim) then the abuse aspect would have felt more respected and not just a cheap thriller plot. really, just erase that "two years later" section entirely as well as the MC being painted as "just like her abuser".