MixedThe New York Times Book Review[A] layered, farcical take on the sins of woman — though after 623 pages, it remains unclear what, exactly, her take is ... ultimately, Plain Bad Heroines explains very little. Though no words feel wasted — this is, after all, about a movie within a movie, based on a book within a book — both narratives end anticlimactically ... The literary skill Danforth demonstrated in that bildungsroman is still present here. She uses vivid language to capture each time and place, in a narrative that is rare even among lesbian fiction: Not one of the five leading women is straight ... Danforth’s brash narration is as much a liability as it is an asset. By the end of the book, her footnote-loving omniscient narrator has turned this lovable quirk into a blunt instrument ... neither plain nor bad, but the spell it casts is merely a glamour, beguiling readers with clever quips and striking imagery.
Lily Bailey
RaveSlateFrom her dorm beds to her hospital beds, 24-year-old Bailey tells her story with impressive frankness and eloquence. She recalls how severe her symptoms were, even in toddlerhood ... an expressive, droll, and evocative tale of mental illness. Bailey illustrates her adolescence, coloring it in with dreamy details and wry observations. Though the book is rife with her harrowing experiences, from obsessive fears that she might be a pedophile to psychiatric hospital stays, its overall effect is that of a late-night diner catch-up with a lovable friend. Bailey bares her soul, bouncing between distant dryness and overwhelming sincerity, and all you can do is keep listening while your coffee goes cold. Imagine Girl, Interrupted, as narrated by a very British version of Kristen Bell.
