Entertainment Weekly really hated it. More precisely her.
Huh. I found her very likeable. Honest, emotionally generous, open.
There are cockroaches in Mexico big enough to own property.
Cordelia ,'Lessons'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
DavidS - Jan 23, 2006 2:47:41 pm PST #9848 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
erikaj - Jan 23, 2006 3:12:37 pm PST #9849 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
sounds good, Hec.
meara - Jan 23, 2006 3:29:49 pm PST #9850 of 10002
Heh. See, whereas I read Salon's take a "wow, she's kinda crazy. Or possibly a lot crazy"
Might have to pick it up, though. But it might make me scream a lot.
It SERIOUSLY puzzles me, knowing what friends of mine go through with having people scream at them on the street, kick them out of bathrooms, etc, that she just magically managed to pass perfectly for a year and a half.
§ ita § - Jan 23, 2006 4:19:26 pm PST #9851 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
She had sex with a woman, for crying out loud.
I guess no one expects it.
I don't know.
Betsy HP - Jan 23, 2006 4:31:59 pm PST #9852 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
It's happened before; that jazz musician who was a woman passing as a man had at least one girlfriend who never knew, or swore she didn't.
meara - Jan 23, 2006 4:42:03 pm PST #9853 of 10002
Heh. Somehow, the having sex with a woman part isn't what shocks me! Though that's pretty darn weird, it only takes one clueless woman. To pass for a year and a half takes a LOT of random strangers not outing you (which, sure, most people even if they twig, aren't going to point and go "OH MY GOD THAT'S A WOMAN!", but...seems like there's bound to be a guy in the bathroom who's gonna take offense. I'm betting she made a concerted effort to use single or unisex bathrooms a lot. Though men are a lot less likely to call you out than women (who can and will seriously throw a fuss if a MTF or butch woman walks in), they're also more likely to kick your ass)
erikaj - Jan 23, 2006 4:43:05 pm PST #9854 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!
It's not too Awareness Day-ish? Because every now and again, I read these dumb things where some AB is in a wheelchair for a whole week and how *do* we stand it? But it's not really the same at all, of course. In both good and bad ways.
DebetEsse - Jan 23, 2006 5:16:09 pm PST #9855 of 10002
Woe to the fucking wicked.
My big issue with the book is that she went to a totally differnt sort of social surrounding than she was accustomed to. I wonder how much different the differences would have been had she gone to Chicago and hung out with the intellectual crowd there.
Nutty - Jan 23, 2006 5:17:50 pm PST #9856 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
The NYT review of the Norah Vincent book made it seem as if she didn't try to pass 24/7, but selectively. They also said her most interesting insights weren't into gender, but into social class (they focussed on her experience with a working-class bowling league).
Dude. She didn't just pass, she passed, and went bowling. That is dedication.
Emily - Jan 24, 2006 8:16:58 am PST #9857 of 10002
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola
It's happened before; that jazz musician who was a woman passing as a man had at least one girlfriend who never knew, or swore she didn't.
Billy Lee! Had at least one wife, I believe.
Er, I know the Phranc song. That's really all.
On the floor of a trailer in Spokane, lies the body of a woman who lived as a man
It's also why I know how to pronounce Spokane.