Artemissmith's Odd Girl Revisited

From a Review by Mel Keegan of GLBT Bookshelf:a work of 'rare scholarship'-- so much so that it's not the "easy read" the mass market is looking for these days. It's a window on a world which is gone, and the savvy reader's brows will be popping up in many places, for many reasons as much an invaluable glimpse into its times as into the lives and hearts of gay/Gay girls who grew up in the decades before most of us were born.)

The strength of the book is in its "realness." And I know that's not a word; but it's what I want to say. The people, places and events in this book are real. Fantastic as it seems (and the first 20pp, the backstory of the author's childhood, do seem more in keeping with a big-budget HBO Movie of the Week!) these events took place. As the Chinese curse goes, "May you live in interesting times."

Recommended for the well-read; for the reader who isn't using the encyclopedia to prop up the DVD stand; for the writer researching the period'-- with or without any interest in gay culture of the twentieth century. Ideally suited to the American social and cultural studies, and of great interest as a window on the recent past. Also should catch the attention of executives at HBO, who might easily be captivated with the first 20pp, buy the movie rights and never even read the rest of the book! (One can see it now, starring Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill and'Viggo Mortensen...)

--BookWorld.editme.com GLBT Bookshelf,
December 6, 2010