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CBR8 Archive

Monday

3

October 2016

0

COMMENTS

In The Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero with Michelle Burford

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Three Stars

diane-guerrero-posing-with-book

The Story
I want to start this review with a discussion of the story Ms. Guerrero tells. It is a fascinating, interesting, sweet and inspirational story. You likely know Ms. Guerrero from her roles on Jane the Virgin and Orange is the New Black – she’s tiny, Colombian and talented as hell. A couple of years ago, she shared that her parents had been deported after authorities learned they were undocumented. This left Ms. Guerrero – then 14 and a US citizen – to essentially fend for herself.

We learn about her childhood, which included fears that deportation might come. But reading it happen – and recognizing that the US government either didn’t know or didn’t care that their actions left a 14-year-old with nowhere to live – infuriated me. I was pissed on her behalf, mad at an immigration system that does this to thousands of families ever year. I was also impressed with her ability to finish high school, enroll in college, and eventual deal with unaddressed issues that her parents’ deportation had created inside her.

We also learn about how she made her way into acting as well as her decision to get publicly involved in immigration reform and other political issues. It’s a compelling tale but it wasn’t an entirely positive reading experience, as the second half of my review will explain.

The Telling
When you were in school, did you ever have the dreaded ‘group project?’ You know, the one where someone wouldn’t do anything, someone would do too much, and the rest of the group just tried to get a word in? And did any of those group projects involve a group PAPER? The way Ms. Guerrero’s story is told feels a bit like a group paper where one person did most of the writing, but someone else insisted on interjecting in each section. And their interjections might even be good (or perhaps better than the bulk of the paper), but they just don’t … flow? That’s how this book reads.

I didn’t realize until the acknowledgments that Ms. Guerrero had a co-author assist her. Ms. Burford has assisted a few other memoirists, so she seems like a good fit for this project; unfortunately, this book is a case where the two authors just don’t seem to have found a good flow or fit. I don’t know how much of this is Ms. Guerrero’s work and how much is Ms. Burford’s; did Ms. Guerrero tell her the story and Ms. Burford write it? Did Ms. Guerrero write it but Ms. Burford filled in some of the information to build out a longer story? Something else entirely? I don’t know, but I feel like it could have benefited from some stronger editing and cohesion.

There are certain things that come up – such as Ms. Guerrero’s depression and the serious ramifications – seemingly out of the blue, and are handled in a couple of pages without a lot of exploration. And I’m not saying she needs to provide more detail than she does; it’s more that the detail provided is so specific and jarring that it stands out. There’s no build or come down – it’d be like watching Law & Order with 30 seconds of Hairspray cut in, then returning right back to Law & Order. There’s nothing off or bad about either, but you’d probably be wondering what the hell that was about. Many chapters left me feeling that way.

Saturday

17

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

Sorry Not Sorry by Naya Rivera

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Three Stars

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I purchased this book on Tuesday as part of my women-authored-memoir spree. So far I’ve read Mara Wilson’s and Abby Wambach’s; I have two book club books to read before I can dive into Diane Guerrero’s book. As evidenced by the photo I’ve included, this book was perfect as the fall equivalent of a good beach read – enjoy it with a cup of cocoa or tea, and be ready to go through it in one sitting.

Ms. Rivera is best known to most of us as Santana from Glee, but this is not a Glee memoir (and that is a good thing). The ten chapters each focus on different phases or components of her life, whether her early days acting as a preschooler, her financial troubles as a young woman, or her love life. Each chapter wraps up with a few bullet points under the ‘sorry’ banner, and a few under ‘not sorry.’

Some phrases or attitudes bummed me out (while at the end of her chapter on her anorexia she acknowledges therapy and/or medication might be helpful for some, earlier in the chapter she makes it seem as though anorexia is generally something one can get one’s self out of), but overall she’s an interesting storyteller who has some good advice to share with the world. I mostly enjoyed her writing, and some of the throw-away sentences are laugh-out-loud funny.

There are some stories in here that some people might consider ‘gossipy,’ but this is not an industry tell-all. This is someone who has led both an interesting and at times very relatable life telling her story. It’s definitely at least worth picking up from the library.

Saturday

17

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

Forward by Abby Wambach

Written by , Posted in Feminism, Reviews

Four Stars

I love soccer – I’ve been playing it on and off for 30 years – and I especially love women’s soccer. I went to five World Cup matches up in Vancouver Canada last year, including the final, where the USWNT beat Japan 5-2. I have season tickets to the National Women’s Soccer League Seattle Reign (who still have a chance to make the playoffs this year!), and attended the USWNT victory tour match in Seattle last fall. When I learned Ms. Wambach was going to write a book about her life, I knew it was going to be a must read.

Ms. Wambach and I are the same age, but other than both playing soccer and being white women, we don’t have much else in common. She has an intensity that I can’t even begin to imagine, which makes sense – it seems fairly necessary to become elite in any field, especially one as demanding as athletics. For most of her life, she seems to have taken the concept of ‘work hard, play hard’ to the extremes, mainly through either strict adherence to training while in the middle of camps, or through serious ingestion of alcohol and pills. She remains the record holder (male or female) of most international goals, but she is also known for the DUI she received in Portland just a few months after retirement.

There is a brutality to this book that should make it a challenging read, but instead I devoured it. The fuel to turn the pages wasn’t so much born out of a desire to see what next ridiculous high or painful low was going to follow; instead I was genuinely interested in how Ms. Wambach was going to both explain and handle her life experiences. Would she be full of excuses? Philosophical? Would she only barely mention the more challenging parts of her story?

No, she was just honest. She sometimes looks like the hero (as she should), and sometimes she is epically fucking up. She is ultimately human, and I feel like we could only get this story from someone who is no longer in the field, especially if the story is coming from a woman. As we’ve seen lately, whether it’s Hope Solo being fired for calling the Swedish team ‘cowards’ (something Cristiano Ronaldo essentially did regarding Iceland to zero consequence) or Megan Rapinoe getting excoriated for kneeling during the national anthem, women get a whole lot of negative attention when they don’t fit into the mold we’ve created to represent what it means to be a woman in the public eye.

I don’t think you need to be a soccer fan to enjoy this read, so if you are curious at all, I recommend it.

Wednesday

14

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Five Stars

I cannot believe I failed to pre-order this book. I follow Ms. Wilson on Twitter and knew the book was coming out this week. I’ve been very excited to read it because I know she is a great storyteller and writer. I figured it would be insightful and entertaining, and even though my to-be-read pile is absurd at the moment, I bought this yesterday and started reading it immediately.

It did not disappoint.

Ms. Wilson is an extraordinarily talented storyteller. In this collection of essays, she shares many deeply personal stories about her time not just as a child actor (which is how many people likely know about her) but as an adolescent and young adult. Her stories are relatable even to people who haven’t experienced the exact same challenges she has – such as losing her mother as a young girl, or going through puberty after being a well-known child actor.

I found myself giggling quite a bit, and also tearing up a few times. I also got very excited about the essays that talked about show choir, because choir factored very heavily in my high school days. But I think what is sticking with me most is how sincere and kind the writing is. Ms. Wilson doesn’t use sarcasm at all. As someone who is overly sarcastic and intentionally (and unintentionally) snarky, it’s lovely to read such engaging writing that doesn’t need to rely on any of that.

I could write more, but honestly I’d rather just enjoy what I got out of each of these essays, and simply say that I hope you’ll read this book and experience the joy of it for yourself, in your own way.

Monday

12

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

Unsportsmanlike Conduct by Jessica Luther

Written by , Posted in Feminism, Politics, Reviews

Four Stars

CN: Rape

I first learned about Ms. Luther during Wendy Davis’ filibuster of HB 2 in Texas – the bill that would eventually become the TRAP law that made it all the way to the Supreme Court as Whole Women’s Health. She is a journalist who has built her career focusing on the intersection of sports and culture, reporting extensively on how women are treated when they report that an athlete has sexually assaulted them.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct is a book from a small press that focuses exclusively on issues in sport, and the publishers approached Ms. Luther to write it. They also worked with her to create the framing for the book, which is about sexual assault committed by football players, and how both the victims and the student-athletes are failed by the system as it currently stands.

The first half consist of five chapters that set the stage – or field, as it were – as it currently stands. There is the field – the universities and colleges themselves – as well as what we don’t see.

She explores the tension that exists with a sport that sees majority black players and (assumed) majority white female who are assaulted and raped, and the history of racism there. The chapter that focuses on this history was fascinating and depressing, and important for understanding the entire issue. One fact she shared, which I found both unsurprising but also depressing as hell, was that the most important predictor of opposition to paying student athletes was if someone had a negative view of black people. Yikes.

With this history firmly grounded, Ms. Luther moves on to discuss the ways Universities, the NCAA and police will try to simply make the reports of rape and assault go away. Or, Coaches and Athletic Directors will claim that the cases just aren’t that big of a deal. Finally, she includes my personal (least) favorite – the attempt to just move on, and pretend everything has been handled appropriately. I loathe the ‘we’re looking to the future’ mentality, when the transgressions of the past have not yet been properly addressed. It is infuriating, and this chapter handles this well.

With the field set, Ms. Luther focuses the second half of the book on things that can be done to improve things now. There are ten chapters of varying length; the one that I think is the most critical (if we were to rate them) is the one that explores the reality of what trauma looks like. We so often hear ‘why didn’t she go to the police right away’ or ‘why did she text the guy a week later’ or ‘her story changed,’ but the media doesn’t provide the context for how the brain recovers memories after a traumatic event like a rape or assault.

I think this is an important book. Unfortunately, I cannot see coaches or the NCAA bothering to read it, because it is so critical of them. But if more students, players and journalists took the time to read it, I think we could see some progress. If the subject matter isn’t too triggering for you, I really hope you consider picking it up.

Monday

5

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

The French Cat by Rachael Hale McKenna

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Five Stars

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This is a book. With pictures of cats. In France.

It’s a gift book; there is a much larger version that I must get my hands on. Normally I wouldn’t review a book like this, but come on!

It has:

1. Pictures of cats

2. In France

3. Coupled with quotes about how awesome cats are, from French intellectuals and artists.

I also learned something – did you know that in Paris cat owners are fined if their cats are found on the street? Explains why I don’t really recall seeing any cats wandering about when I’ve been in Paris.

I’ll be rereading this more than probably any other book. It makes me smile, it makes me want to snuggle my own cats more, and damn it, it makes me want to go back to France.

Monday

5

September 2016

0

COMMENTS

All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister

Written by , Posted in Feminism, Reviews

Four Stars

This is a good book, but it is dense. I started it in early August and just finished it late last night because I didn’t want to carry around such a hefty hardback book, and also because I kind of just wanted to read puffy junk like “Nerve.” But I’m really glad I made it all the way through, because I think it’s an interesting and important work.

Ms. Traister breaks her book down into ten chapters that explore different facets of being an unmarried woman in the U.S., including politics and power, independence, activism, and the reality that it can be very challenging. She doesn’t spend all of her time focusing on well-off white women (as I sort of feared); instead she looks at the different ways being unmarried and a woman intersects with class and race. And these aren’t just young unmarried women – some are older women, some are young mothers, some are older mothers, and some eventually do decide to get married.

The parts that definitely resonated most with me were the sections that covered being in one’s 20s and 30s and single in a large urban area. I spent most of my 20s single, and I lived in NYC. It was mostly fantastic, although I wasn’t actively eschewing dating or staking out a claim as a singleton. I’d go through phases of dating and not dating, enjoying the solitude of being able to wander through Central Park all day on a Saturday and not have to adjust to anyone else’s schedule. And I appreciate that my family never put any pressure on me to meet a man and settle down (it probably helped that they knew I wasn’t having kids). The parts that I didn’t directly relate to – such as discussions of being a single mother, or wanting to go through fertility treatment without a partner – were still very engaging to read.

If you’re interested in some history and some current analysis of how the US treats single women, this is definitely a good choice. Just be prepared for it to take a while to get through.

Sunday

21

August 2016

0

COMMENTS

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Two Stars

Nerve

I usually reserve two stars for really bad books (the coveted 1 star remains, I believe, only awarded to that Cinderella mess from a couple years back). But this year when I look back on the books I’ve rated as three stars, they are all better than this one. So keep that in mind.

I picked this up because the Pajiba review of the film that came out earlier this year was pretty good. I’ve just gone back and re-read the review and it looks like the filmmakers took the names and premise from the book but changed pretty much everything else. Probably for the best.

In case you don’t know the premise, here it is: there’s a real-time live action game show that involves individuals signing up to complete recorded dares for prizes. Vee, tired of being outshined by her best friend, decides to sign up.

But let’s back up. The book starts out with a prologue that – spoiler alert – is never resolved. I mean, we figure out (sort of) what happens, but still. Not great writing.

Anyway, you don’t know the prologue never gets resolved until the end of the book. So yay for that. But the next glaring problem is that a 17-year-old in Washington state would be able to sign up for this game without parental permission. Moving past that, the naiveté of the main character is sort of mind boggling. I suppose it’s necessary for the plot, but I’m not sure.

It all takes place in Seattle over the course of I think three days, so the action is compact. The dares increase in difficulty / awkwardness / danger, until the ‘grand finale’ dare, which is so ridiculous. Like, I get that some young people make poor decisions, but come on.

Also, there’s this weird storyline about how maybe the main character tried to kill herself at some point, which doesn’t really totally get resolved.

Then the book ends, there’s an epilogue sort of (which again doesn’t address the prologue at all – it’s like it never happened), and then it’s over. I read it in a day, and I’m not mad I read it, it just wasn’t good.

Monday

8

August 2016

0

COMMENTS

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Four Stars

I voted for this for the CBR book club, because it’s been on my to-read list for a couple of years and I knew this would be the motivation I needed. And I’m so glad it was selected, because this was really a great book.

I didn’t entirely know what to expect, but I think the chapter early on (was it the second one) really set the tone. He talks about the worst thing about being poor wasn’t being hungry; it was not being able to take the dog to the vet when he was sick. That was just a big slap in the face of reality, and let me know that this wasn’t going to be a generic young adult book (not that I was expecting generic from Mr. Alexie).

The book follows Junior, a Spokane Indian who is motivated by a teacher to get a better education by attending the white high school 20 miles outside the reservation. The book somehow manages to address poverty, racism, opportunity, motivation, success, fear, alcoholism, and relationships with equal parts humor and depth. The book sounds like it could be the inner thoughts of a 14-year-old boy, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Really the only issue I took with it was the liberal use of the gay slur that starts with the letter f. I get that he’s trying to give us insight into how adolescent boys talk, but it was so jarring and I thought wasn’t necessary.

Sunday

7

August 2016

0

COMMENTS

Spark Joy by Marie Kondo

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Three Stars

4 November 2015; Marie Kondo, Author and Organising Consultant, Marie Kondo, on the Society Stage during Day 2 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit

4 November 2015; Marie Kondo, Author and Organising Consultant, Marie Kondo, on the Society Stage during Day 2 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit

Remember last year, when everyone you know – and everyone they know – was reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up? I was one of those people. My husband and I really pared down out belongings at a serendipitous time; not a month later we received notice that we had to move, so it was much easier to pack our two-bedroom apartment up with 11 days’ notice after having taken over two carloads of belongings to Goodwill.

We continue to tidy following this method, for the most part, but we’ve moved into a new house, which came with many more places for stuff to accumulate. When I saw this sort-of-sequel was being released, I figured I’d want to read it. And I *think* I’m glad I did. But I’m not sure.

My hesitation is that I’m not entirely sure this book is necessary. It does have some good tips, and some cute illustrations (the little bunny in the pictures is adorable). But I think that a lot of this could have been worked into the original book. I totally get it; she struck gold, and her publishers likely wanted to capitalize on that. They got me, and as we go for another round of making sure we’re really sticking with only keeping things that ‘spark joy,’ this will probably come in handy.