RaveThe Post and Courier (CAN)\"Funder, who came to this project an even bigger fan than me, has smashed the illusions that biographers have upheld about Orwell ... Funder describes reading about Eileen as a \'revelation,\' and the book she wrote will be a revelation for many. She has thrown back the curtain on the patriarchy. Using Eileen’s personal letters to her husband and friends, and the many biographies of Orwell, Funder recreates their marriage in fictionalized scenes that often don’t paint Orwell in the ideal light ... The greatest triumph of Wifedom is not that it has brought these crimes to light; it’s that Funder manages to redeem the man by the end of the book without falling back on the same shoddy patriarchal buttresses that have held him up this whole time. She does it in the same way that flawed heroes in every great story redeem themselves: by showing how they suffered as a result of their crimes. And it is clear that Orwell did suffer after the untimely death of Eileen.\
Melissa Faliveno
RaveThe RumpusI immediately saw myself in Faliveno’s debut essay collection ... The effect is like tumbling freely into thought, or settling in for a deep and vibrant conversation with someone kind of like you but also very different ... In clear, crisp language, Faliveno describes not feeling comfortable with any of the typical labels and explores the meanings of the words she tries on herself ... As Faliveno plumbs her emotions and seeks to understand herself in the context of these labels and other people’s opinions on them, she never breaks from her deep understanding of humanity, flaws and all ... Tomboyland is both a pleasure and a challenge, and Faliveno’s openness and charisma deepens on every page. Seeing yourself in literature is a beautiful, meaningful experience for every reader. But while good books can allow readers to see themselves, they can also show us something different, something we hadn’t considered, something true—whether we identify with it or not. This is Tomboyland’s most important accomplishment.
