Airport Feminist Book Club

These are the four books I finished on a work trip to Austin last week; the theme of patriarchy was front and center in three of them.  The first two I finished had pink covers and I wanted to do a whole theme but I gave that up after looking at my library holds and realizing I didn't have any more pink books. Would have been cute in a pointless way though.  

Annie Bot (by Sierra Greer)

Contender for favorite book of the year (which I thought James had locked up).  Onstensibly about a sex robot who is sentient, but actually an exploration of the subtleties of personhood and emotional abuse.  Skin crawling and fascinating and unpredictable... I loved everything about it and re-read the ending like four times.

Plan A (by Deb Caletti)

About a girl who has to travel from Texas to Oregon to get an abortion. The way her pregnancy is discovered by the community is incredibly contrived and the writing takes some getting used to - a bit stream-of-consciousness and discursive. But once I adjusted to the writing and decided to suspend disbelief, I enjoyed it. (While, obviously, being enraged because women should have basic fucking body autonomy.)  It's a bit didactic but it's young adult and this particular kind of didacticism is badly needed even though it SHOULDN'T BE but here we are. 

This Time It’s Real (by Ann Liang)

This was an adorable YA palate cleanser about a girl living in China who has a fake relationship with a film star in her class. It's very cute and well-written with great chemistry.  I hoped it would be good because Ann Liang's I Hope This Doesn't Find You was also very good. Great to discover a new, extremely solid young adult writer!

The Secrets We Keep (by Cassie Gustafson)

Also a YA but this time about a girl whose father is arrested for abusing her friend, and the secrets she may have been keeping for him. Absolutely moving, utterly heartbreaking.  Weirdly has a similar ending to Annie Bot as both characters undergo a sort of liberation.  I also re-read this ending like four times for the same reason. And god I loved the fairy tales interspersed throughout too! A couple of moments when the inner voice doesn't quite work, but for the most part, great.