Because the Comings and Goings of Myra Breckinridge are sure to surprise you.
Song Vibe Check:
"Relax" By: Frankie Goes to Hollywood
"Muscle" By: Years & Years
"XXX" By: Kim Petras
Trigger warning: this book does contain scenes of sexual assault, mention of rape, including some uncomfortable scenes and an orgy... read at your own risk.
Nothing like getting a song to capture the gayness of this book, a raunchy song from a transgender woman (who I was definitely not picturing while this book was read) and a song that dabbles into the muscular masculinity of men all in one sitting. NOTE: This book is meant to make you uncomfortable, but also to challenge the way we think about society, sex and gender too :)
To every good book, there is always one that will shock you to your core. And this is the book that shocked me entirely. While I can say I am pretty well aware of authors mostly in the YA realm, I know a couple of authors who write more in the Adult fiction realm and at times, older authors will go over my head which absolutely sucks because there are definitely hidden treasures out there.
Now it's time to highlight one of them.
I hadn't heard of Gore Vidal until I started the new semester in my Gender, Sexuality Lit course and knowing I'd be signing up to a wacky trip as part of what the new semester entails, we start off with THIS novel that honestly should be read in our current times because we live in such a shifting culture that is always changing, always evolving and as you can as you can all see, the definition of Gender has definitely changed since when this book was written. Men wear skirts, paint their nails and even perform and kiss other men on stage (*COUGH COUGH* BAD BUNNY)
Onto the shocking madness of this book.
Short Summary? Myra Breckinridge has a mission. A mission to rule over all men and destroy the patriarchy as we know it. Her target: The film academy school in Hollywood where she challenges the students who are desperate to become stars. Her prey: The money she is trying to con from Buck Loner and her obsession with rising star Rusty Godowski.
The result? Myra's journey to explain her truth which may be the secret to her downfall.
Longer Summary: Myra Breckinridge is a beautiful woman who is after a part of the fortune that Buck Loner owns as she sets to claim her inheritance for being Myron Breckinrdige's "wife". There's a catch though.
Myron didn't die.
He decided to transition into becoming a woman... into becoming...Myra Breckinridge. And as she sets to claim the inheritance, she becomes an instructor at the film academy in Hollywood where she aspires to become an actress as well as deal with the younger generation who may teach her a few lessons about who she is meant to be in this society that rejects anything that could be different.
Ladies and Gentlemen... this character is unlike any that I've seen. She is the type of narrator who is flamboyant, all UP IN YOUR FACE and is meant to be unapologetically her as she sets out to challenge all the norms in Hollywood as a transgender woman. She makes us question whether we can truly capture all the things that happen in our lives or if we are only meant to remember the impressions of the moments we live through. She pushes us to wonder if we are all just simply repressed bisexual people and makes us question what it means to be a man or a woman in our current day and age. She claims that gender is a performance and we get to see it in herself as she chose to become a woman to challenge all those norms.
Something tells me she would have taken Simon De Beauvoir's quote of "One is not a woman, she becomes one" seriously. Now, let's not forget that while she is the challenger of these norms, she is not BY ANY MEANS a good person. She has flaws, as most characters are meant to have. She will have problematic views at times about men and women and is even a problematic figure with her obsession of Rusty as she ironically in the end, fails in her mission to be possessed by a man.
Since she had been one before, you know? I won't spoil much after that, but she's the type of bon vivant character that really is meant to be thought provoking even as she is controversial and although this book was hated upon when it came out, it could still face backlash today, but I think our current society might be more accepting of it. Or not, given the current state of affairs of men dictating over women's bodies. But political discussions is not the purpose of this review.
The true intent... is to dare you all to try reading this. It may just change your mind about some things.
Overall: 4/5 stars
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