Ever since I read it, I haven’t been able to stop talking about Shrill, a sharp, funny, warm memoir by Lindy West ... It’s a kind of holy grail of nonfiction writing—it reads breezy and hilarious, but it also kicks serious feminist ass ... Ms. West’s chapter on flying while fat was eye-opening. To be honest, it outed me as another bigot in the world ... I was gutted by the thought that I both internalize and project these messages of self-loathing and fat shaming ... I am also so supremely glad that Ms. West is out there, speaking her mind with such vitality and humor. Even with all the heavy topics she covers in her book, there is still so much wit and whimsy—and, yes, a love story to warm your heart. Shrill is without question a delight to read.
Like many an internet sensation’s debut, this memoir-cum–call-to-arms pulls from previously published work and spins it into something new. The book is savvily positioned for both West neophytes and West diehards ... Her book is both sharp-toothed and fluid as it rips into period stigma and abortion stigma, sexism and fat-shaming. Though the book’s many shrewd insights sometimes feel strung together in a way that’s less than artful, they are always a pleasure to read ... To see so much of West’s writing in one place is to appreciate her range. She can eviscerate the status quo with raunchy humor ... West is propulsively entertaining—more than enough to carry the reader through the book’s meanderings. Shrill is least engaging when West seems most concerned with driving home an overarching theme ... As a collection of anecdotes and bite-size manifestoes, Shrill is incisive and funny.
It's very difficult to write about Shrill, Lindy West's debut essay collection, without being effusive. When you finish the final page, your immediate impulse is to gush at anyone who will listen about how accomplished it is ... With grace and wit, she's taken on the ubiquity of rape jokes and fat shaming, and lifted the veil on the abusive tenor of our online conversations. In short, West has become a much-needed beacon of solace and reason in an increasingly vitriolic world ... Some of the book is certainly laugh-out-loud funny, as West writes with her signature irreverence and light conversational tone ... Beyond being hilarious and smart, one of the more compelling aspects of Shrill is West's ability to write reflectively on pieces she's already put out into the world ... it's certainly no exaggeration to say we're all very lucky to live in a world where Lindy West exists.
...a director’s commentary of sorts on her most memorable stories, several of which are reprinted here. The later essays, about her father’s death, are the most ambitious as writing, but the hits hold ... [she writes] with patience, humor and a wildly generous attitude toward her audience ... West’s humor, I admit, is not always my style. At times it feels juvenile, irritating ... But no matter, there is good work here that represents a decade of public service for which she deserves years of back pay.
West’s range is wide. Shrill’s early chapters flash with wild, exuberant profanity ... Later, she becomes more sober and personal, writing about her father’s death and her love for her husband. Shrill mixes humour with pathos so effectively that those qualities magnify each other rather than cancelling each other out ... [West is] a warm, capacious and funny writer.
In this uproariously funny debut, West, GQ writer and fat-acceptance activist, blends memoir, social commentary, and ribald comedy in a biting manifesto ... Readers will delight in West’s clarity as she describes her childhood ... Despite the book’s serious subject, West’s ribald jokes, hilarious tirades, and raucous confessions keep her narrative skipping merrily along as she jumps from painful confession to powerful epiphany ... a triumphant, exacting, absorbing memoir that will lay new groundwork for the way we talk about the taboo of being too large.
Every political movement needs a folk hero ... Someday, I hope there will be a comic book version of Shrill for little girls who worry about taking up too much space or talking too loudly ... It would be instructive for them, a way of learning to be a woman in the world without having to modulate their voices or contort their bodies to please men.
West, a GQ culture writer and former staff writer for Jezebel, balances humor with a rare honesty and introspection in her debut ... West's chronicle of the series of highly personal online attacks—and of how much Internet conversations have changed in the past decade—marks this book as required reading. Always entertaining and relatable, West writes openly and with clear eyes about embarrassing moments ... thought-provoking.
