Book Review: It Came from the Closet

 

Image: the fantastic cover of this book is a illustration of a gravestone with a rainbow behind it and a black sky. In front of the gravestone is a limp wristed pink hand reaching out of the ground. On the gravestone it says it came from the closet in large black letters and queer reflections on horror in smaller letters. Across the bottom and small pink letters it says edited by Joe vallese.

I didn't know exactly what to expect from It Came from the Closet. I often start books that include any sort of academic media review assuming that I may put them down due to boredom. Sometimes media analysis, especially if I haven't seen or read the media, is so incredibly dull to me and just not my thing. This collection is very different than those sorts of texts. There are a couple essays in it that push past the line of pretentious academia enough to be mildly annoying. But, most of these stories couch their analysis in fantastic storytelling of personal experiences of the authors. 

There is a wide diversity of contributors to this book from varying gender and sexuality labels and upbringings. They are well written and the storytelling aspect of it makes this sort of analysis so much more accessible and entertaining to read.

I was basically raised on horror movies and books. It was one of the few things that I connected with my dad on when I got to see him. I recall having a variety of reactions to them from fear to outright laughter. When Army of Darkness came out, having seen the first two Evil Dead movies, we went in ready to laugh and had the whole theater chuckling with us by the end. I also recall The People Under the Stairs with its racist and misogynistic story lines involving child abuse terrifying my 9 year old self to a level that I wouldn't open my eyes until the lights were back on. I saw things that were just fine and others that I believe I was too young for.

I hadn't really thought much about how my queer and transness related to these sorts of media until reading this text. It makes a lot of sense. A lot of the entries sort of grappled with the way monstrosity and terror are used in media and how they can relate to being seen that way themselves. Others discuss how horror allowed them to escape from the real horrors of life, something I can definitely relate to. There's something comforting about watching something that's not real and knowing that it's not. Even in my nightmares, the ones that involve things like zombies and vampires are not nearly as scary as the ones involving social ostracism and abuse. Some discuss how certain tropes and characters were purposely or accidentally coded as queer and many other sorts of analysis.

All in all I think this book really bridges a gap between a queer memoir storytelling and academic media analysis making the topics accessible to a wider audience. But, all of that aside, I truly just enjoyed this book and the voices within. It was a fun read, whatever it is.

This was also posted to my Goodreads.

Book Review: “You Just Need to Lose Weight”AND 19 OTHER MYTHS ABOUT FAT PEOPLE

 

Image: the cover of the book is a magenta background with white lettering that is block style with orangeish yellow edges. And large letters it says "you just need to lose weight," and smaller letters it says and 19 other myths about fat people. And small white letters across the bottom it says Aubrey Gordon. Below that and yellow letters it says co-host of maintenance phase.

It's probably best to approach Aubrey Gordon's book, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 other myths about fat people as a collection of essays or a long form list post. I think this is a good thing for this kind of book. Since there are some myths that some people may already know about and because many readers will likely be fat acceptance activists, this format allows one to skip around. It also means that reading it cover to cover has some repetition of certain citations and points, but I didn't find it to be annoyingly so because the book is not overbearingly long or anything.

A word of caution for fat folks, especially those who experience the highest levels of discrimination, this may be a tough read or unnecessary read for you. As each topic goes on, Gordon starts with some very basic myths and gets into the more niche myths as the book progresses. You may not find much more than a rehashing of your own trauma in the first few, but may see some interesting points in the last few where she talks about things we find specifically in fat acceptance movements.

I'm not 100% clear on terms, but I believe I have experienced much of my life in the straight size to small fat categories. Most of my life I've been in "overweight" or "obese" BMI categories off and on. However even when I was in the "normal" range, I still ran into discrimination from medical providers, including one telling me that an allergic reaction I was having to a medication was due to me having a "high BMI" that made my tongue fat. Yes, really. I also know what it's like being afraid of not being able to get gender affirming care due to random BMI limits that can change office to office. 

Given the amount of medical discrimination I have faced and how harrowing that can be, the compounding of it for very fat folks- especially who have other intersecting oppressions to deal with- is almost unbearable to try to imagine. The urgency of this issue is grand, and yet the social support isn't there. As Gordon covers well in one myth near the end, anti-fat bias is not the "last acceptable form of discrimination" by any means. But, it is something that has unique kinds of hatred thrown at it like any other oppression does and is also compounded by those other oppressions. This book is great for folks who may not fully understand the basics (as well as some next tier info as well.)

I listened to the audiobook read by Gordon and really enjoyed it. Her voice is that of a passionate but familiar (imaginary) friend from her podcasts. I also just wanted to give her a hug afterwards. Putting together an accessible listicle style book with your own trauma and keeping it readable and not overwhelming is no easy task. This book brings up many emotions but isn't trauma porn. 

I definitely recommend this (as well as maintenance phase podcast) to anyone needing to learn more. I recommend at least the last third to folks who already know a bit.

This was also posted to my goodreads.