Category: Gender

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is an absolutely furious short novel about sexism in South Korea, and while its incidents and statistics are specific to that country, it can stand in for how badly half of the world’s human population commonly treats the other half, often without even noticing. The book opens with what appears to …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/10/kim-jiyoung-born-1982-by-cho-nam-joo/

What’s Wrong? by Erin Williams

subtitled Personal Histories of Chronic Pain and Bad Medicine. After a lifetime of anxiety and self-medication, Erin Williams realized that the American health system had failed her. At best, it focused on symptoms instead of attempting to treat her as an entire person, leaving her to suffer with chronic pain and, finally, to search for …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/01/30/whats-wrong-by-erin-williams/

Constellations by Kate Glasheen

My only regret is that the ARC I received of this wasn’t completely in color. This is understandable — graphic novels ain’t cheap! — but I was so in love in with the illustrations on the few pages that were full-color glossy that I know I lost a little bit of the story’s impact by …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/06/13/constellations-by-kate-glasheen/

The Mermaid, the Witch, And The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

I honestly think it does a great disservice to this book to consider/market it as YA. For starters, I very nearly bounced off it in the first few pages when a main character, who we’re clearly meant to feel sympathy for, brutally kills an unarmed man. Had I gone in thinking this was a regular …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/02/the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokuda-hall/

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente

The Refrigerator Monologues

In 1999, Gail Simone made a list “when it occurred to [her] that it’s not healthy to be a female character in comics. … These are superheroines who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator. Some have been revived, even improved — although the question remains as to why …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/04/06/the-refrigerator-monologues-by-catherynne-m-valente/

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

I’m pretty sure I would have liked this more if it had been more speculative fiction and less MFA. Thing is, it’s an entirely worthy book. If it wasn’t for Freshwater, I would have no idea what a non-binary trans person is, and I’m richer for having found out. But I didn’t find out from …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2019/11/02/freshwater-by-akwaeke-emezi/

Hey Ladies!: The Story of 8 Best Friends, 1 Year, and Way, Way Too Many Emails by Michelle Markowitz, Caroline Moss & Carolyn Bahar

Hey Ladies!: A Cautionary Tale Let me begin by admitting that I was lucky enough to spend ages 8-21 being an Upper Middle Class Asian in Asia, thereby escaping completely the clutches of the American bridal-industrial complex. However, having lived over half my life here now, I can’t claim to be completely unscathed as a …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/12/27/hey-ladies-the-story-of-8-best-friends-1-year-and-way-way-too-many-emails-by-michelle-markowitz-caroline-moss-carolyn-bahar/

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

Hunh. So, okay. This book is super rich in ideas and philosophy and science, and posits a logical extrapolation of capitalism to its vilest ends. The question of autonomy vs indentured servitude, and the heartbreaking necessity in this future of individual (en)franchisement, plus the stranglehold of corporate patents on technology, are all discussed and examined …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/10/13/autonomous-by-annalee-newitz/

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

What an incredibly annoying book. Imagine, if you will, a family where the parents ignore two of their children but place all their hopes and dreams and crushing projections on the one daughter who winds up dead soon after her sixteenth birthday, after which the parents learn to become better parents, and maybe better partners …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/04/28/everything-i-never-told-you-by-celeste-ng/

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

The fuck was that?! And I don’t mean that in a bad way either, it was just weird as hell and kinda gross. Pulling my professional pants on, I’m pretty sure the greatest part of my disorientation is the fact that, while this is billed as an outer space opera, I couldn’t shake the impression …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2018/03/11/the-stars-are-legion-by-kameron-hurley/