Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not Every Essay Resonated

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay

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I feel like a bad person for not totally loving this book. It was just hard to get through and some of the stories didn’t really move me one way or the other. I ended up just feeling sad while reading and finally finishing this book off with some wine. I think also that looking at rape culture is a huge undertaking, and so the stories could have flowed a bit better between them to the next story. Also I wish that things were not […]

An Extremely Difficult and Important Read

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Trigger warning for the entire review (and book) as it discusses rape and rape culture. As a proud Angry Feminist, I’ve read a lot of books about rape culture. Considering that most women are harassed, abused, sexually assaulted, or raped in their lifetimes, it is of course a subject rife for feminist discussion and analysis. I won’t say that Not That Bad adds anything hugely revolutionary to the genre (aside from the fact that it remains a revolutionary act to frankly discuss rape and rape […]

Do Any Women Not Have a Story They Could Contribute?

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Content Note: This book’s subtitle is literally “Dispatches from Rape Culture.” Best for: Those looking for some reassurance and reminders that yes, it really is that bad. In a nutshell: Editor Roxane Gay brings together essays from 30 people (mostly women), all of which address some part of rape culture. Worth quoting: “The part I wanted them to understand is that these equations can implode, constricting your whole life, until one day you’re sitting in a locked steel box breathing through an airhole with a […]

This is hard to get through, even if you’re normally okay while reading books about rape.

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I have never had such a hard time getting through a book that I liked. “Liked” actually feels like the wrong word here. How can I say I liked something that made me angry and frustrated almost 100% of the way through, and which filled me with dread every time I tried to convince myself to pick it back up again? Perhaps “appreciated”? Understand is necessary? See its importance? But not liked. I didn’t expect this reaction, even though rape is a tough subject to […]

Unruly Bodies

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I listened to Roxane Gay read her own book, Hunger: A Memoir Of (My) Body. It was a soul punch. Maybe I shouldn’t have listened at a time when I was struggling with feelings about my family, or maybe it was the exact right time. Several versions of this review were only appropriate for my therapist. I am fat, and I was always going to be fat unless I either put myself on a constant, punitive diet, or devoted hours and hours of my day […]

A memoir that made me introspective

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Memoirs are about the author but I have to admit I spent most of Hunger thinking about myself. I don’t like having to say that – I’m a privileged white woman, stories like mine get told all the time and this was a story emphatically not about me and yet chapter after chapter I thought about myself. As something of a Tumblr feminist, Roxane Gay was someone I was culturally aware of, but Hunger was the first of her books that I’ve read. She is an incredibly […]



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