Geek Girls Don’t Cry
By: Andrea Towers
I actually picked Geek Girls up awhile back when all the Dany-related GOT furor was going on. It ticks a lot of my boxes- female characters, mental health representation in culture and how both are perceived.
Geek Girls looks at why we relate so strongly to these characters as well.
It’s a good little book both for a personal read and a gift. There’s a very good run of characters anytime you include Juliet Burke from Lost is a bonus for me.
There’s also a lot you would suspect Storm, Scarlet Widow, Black Witch, Cersei… Show-Cersei anyway. I feel like delving into the psychology of the book version deserves a book of its own and not a couple of pages.
But it’s really interesting to see how these characters are survivors in so many different ways. Many times before we even join them. I think the most important thing is Towers tries to show why people might see themselves so deeply in these characters- for many different reasons. Perhaps reasons we don’t even recognize.
The psychology is not hard to follow and if you do know the characters well you probably won’t be surprised. It also interested me on a wider scale as reading it I can understand why I get so upset when certain characters die or why a fandom might melt down when a character does something that comes off as against what they previously stood for, etc.
Which also taps at the importance of representation in stories and seeing yourself or relating to characters and that fine line writers and creators have to walk now. And the fine line that fans walk- or don’t- of simply letting people be and connect to a story in their own way without casting aspersions or worse.
The only down side was an interview with a comic-book writer whom I had previously read and enjoyed that even in like two total pages came off as totally rude, dismissive and a bit full of herself which admittedly bummed me out a bit. But overall I enjoyed Geek Girls and thought it was bite-sized nuggets of interesting skimming along edge of something more.
Recommend: Yes. If you are at all interested in the ideas. Like I said- it’s a nice gift idea as well.
ooo this sounds cool — not sure if it’s my thing, but I’ll be on the lookout for it next time I’m at the bookstore to check it out!
Sounds like a good read, although bummer about the comic book creator interview. Yikes.
Yeah I don’t think I can read her stuff without thinking about that interview anymore 🙁
This sounds really cool! I hadn’t heard of it before but I added it to my TBR 🙂 Great Review! (and I’m sorry about your comic writer, that sucks!)
Nice review! I’ll have to see if my library has this to check out. One of my biggest frustrations recently is fandoms casting off characters who don’t fit certain expectations or ideas. I’m interested to see how the books addresses that a little. 🙂
Oo this looks amazing!!!! I will definitely have to read this. It’s interesting to see how people perceive characters, I’ve always found it strange that people admire characters that they’re nothing at all like, but hate the characters that they actually are like e.g. people think they’re Daenerys, but they’re much more like Sansa in real life. It’s fascinating stuff, and I’m sure I probably identify with characters that I dislike as well without even realising… but I feel like overall that the opposite works for people until they’ve reached a state of self-consciousness and self-awareness. I’m starting to realise that I’m much more like Hermione than I previously thought… I think rereading helps clarify a lot as well!