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Terrible2s's picture

101

I read Kate Bornstein's "101 ways" and loved it. However, as we were discussing in class, I did find her rhetoric to be a little over the top. I guess perhaps the reason for this is that she was writing for a teenage audience, but it seemed like her language almost undermined her points. She would put small side comments in a very serious section, and it almost made scary things like descrimination, depression, and suicide seem like a joke. Maybe I'm looking at it too critically, but I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way.

I did love how she phrased and ordered her 101. It was creatively put together and had a good mix of light-hearted suggestions and important/serious ones. The only times I thought she crossed the lines were when she made assumptions about the reader. I understand you can't write a book without having some idea who you audience is, but it seemed like occasionally she would break her own rules with categorizing and gender transendence etc. For example, as one of my classmates pointed out, she spoke about sexuality without considering asexuality, polyamory, and one other topic I can't remember... Either way I think occasionally she got carried away and took things too far. Generally speaking I was a fan, though.

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