Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving American Culture

Although Dead Girls can be a bit meandering at times, it is a very solid bunch of essays which each explore, to some degree or other, America's obsession with the Dead Girl. Bolin discusses the prevalence of the trope in television and movies, in books, and even in real life. Since this is a cobbled together collection of personal essays, she does stray fairly far beyond her chosen topic from time to time, often straying into various aspects of the story of why/how/when she moved to LA (which honestly, I could have done with significantly less of), she does typically find a connection to Dead Girls.

I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Total middle of the road, here. When she's "on," Bolin's essays are really good, but she's only on for about half of them in my opinion.

2.5 out of 5 items of rating.

Read it if you think you'll dig it - you just might!

Comments

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

We are all probably familiar with the Ripple Effect – you throw a stone into a pond, and from the point of impact, a multitude of ripples spread wider and wider. Similarly, every chance encounter, every action has innumerable implications that we may not even be aware of until far in the future. The passage of years, and each choice made during that time shape our lives, and the lives of those around us. Will I be authentic today? Will I sell out? Will I tell the truth? Embrace change? Will I let time make me into something that I’m not ready to be? These are just some of the questions addressed by Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. “It began the usual way,” page one declares. And thus begins what turns out to be one of the most unusual books I have read in recent memory. In her work of contemporary fiction, Egan explores the lives of a veritable cornucopia of eccentric, narcissistic, and sometimes tragic supporting characters. The story is broken up into 13 d

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is the story of Nancy Astley, and the trials and tribulations she must face on the journey to self discovery and finding (not to mention holding on to) love as a young lesbian living in Victorian-era England. We follow her through a string of life experiences both good and bad, as well as a string of lovers both good and bad. Life at that time couldn't have been terribly easy to begin with, but being a "masher" (Victorian slang for a male impersonator), a "tom" (a boyish-dressing lesbian), and at one point a "renter" (prostitute), Nan didn't have much chance to have anything easy. I have no earthly idea why I hadn't read this book until now. I've been aware of its existence for many years. I knew it was hugely popular, and I knew that it had spawned a television mini-series (which I've also never seen - sad face). I just never got around to it - kind of like Anna Karenina which I only rece

The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Net Valley in exchange for an honest review. They give me no money, not do they in any way influence my thoughts - those are 100% my own for better or worse. Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Other Girl and Justice for Sara comes a thrilling psychological drama about a woman who believes she escaped a brutal murder years ago—but does anyone else believe her? Sienna Scott grew up in the dark shadow of her mother’s paranoid delusions. Now, she's returned home to confront her past and the unsolved murder that altered the course of her life. In her mother’s shuttered house, an old fear that has haunted Sienna for years rears its ugly head —that it was she who had been the killer’s target that night. And now, with it, a new fear—that the killer not only intended to remedy his past mistake—he’s already begun. But are these fears any different from the ones that torment her mothe