Like its subjects, this first book by journalist Pasulka is a national treasure. Authentically, sensitively, and expansively recording the personal and sociopolitical realities of drag in Brooklyn from 2011 to 2021, this compendium preserves the people, places, and evolving culture that made drag famous ... Focusing on the actual human players, Pasulka generously considers the complex and multilayered effects of RuPaul’s Drag Race on the show’s Brooklynite stars ... Pasulka also charts the contributions and essential presence of queens not cast on Drag Race, such as Merrie Cherry and Krystal Something Something, and inclusively details the impacts of drag kings, cisgender women, nonbinary performers, and the hosting venues. The book’s impressively broad lens is matched by its zoom-in on the details of drag. Readers will learn drag-specific lexicon and cultural competencies that make this subculture unlike any other and influential beyond any expectations.
Pasulka is a narrator and not a character here, and this distance gives her space to document the sweeping issues facing drag, like the significant generational and class divides ... The resulting book is funny, poignant, dishy and even enlightening, all at the same time ... isn’t just the story of a niche nightclub scene in Brooklyn — it’s the story of America now.
... lively and intricate ... An entertaining, absorbing behind-the-scenes look at drag that will especially appeal to fans of Drag Race and the TV drama Pose.
Pasulka writes effectively about how drag performances felt like an act of resistance after Trump’s election in the US ... Pasulka has provided a valuable service in noting down for posterity performances that were shambolic, ephemeral and only viewed by a handful of late night barflys in rackety venues like Metropolitan in Brooklyn ... With such vivid visual material, it’s a shame that the images in this book often feel posed or like press shots, rather than capturing the queens in full throttle. The writing sometimes suffers from a lack of imagination: we really need a new metaphor for being delighted by abundance without resorting to kids and candy stores. But nonetheless, like the queens she writes about, Pasulka manages to fashion something original and compelling from a disparate hotchpotch of sources: nightlife history, social media chat and reportage, all stitched together with great respect and love.
... an entertaining deep dive into the last decade of the Brooklyn drag scene. Though there’s just enough contextualization of American drag itself—with its roots in 'female impersonation' and Black ballroom culture—Pasulka’s keen eye is trained on Brooklyn and the queens from the borough who have risen over the past 10 years to unexpectedly become the 'apotheosis of cool' ... Pasulka skillfully weaves each performer’s story into a tapestry of messiness, drama, and the complexities of modern queer subcultures, but as the author herself cautions, this isn’t a comprehensive or definitive history. Occasionally, to its detriment, the book positions its subjects’ word as final; when addressing the criticism around white drag queen Thorgy Thor’s dreadlocks, for instance, she offers the queen’s own explanation (it’s easier for wig purposes) without further unpacking the issue. Still, LGBTQ history buffs and fans of Drag Race will be hard-pressed to find a more in-depth look at the drag explosion of the 2010s.
