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The Witches Are Coming
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2019)In this wickedly funny cultural critique, the author of the critically acclaimed memoir and Hulu series Shrill exposes misogyny in the #MeToo era.
THIS IS A WITCH HUNT.
WE’RE WITCHES,
AND WE’RE HUNTING YOU.
From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill, Lindy West, turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You’ve got one.
In a laugh-out-loud, incisive cultural critique, West extolls the world-changing magic of truth, urging readers to reckon with dark lies in the heart of the American mythos, and unpacking the complicated, and sometimes tragic, politics of not being a white man in the twenty-first century. She tracks the misogyny and propaganda hidden (or not so hidden) in the media she and her peers devoured growing up, a buffet of distortions, delusions, prejudice, and outright bullsh*t that has allowed white male mediocrity to maintain a death grip on American culture and politics-and that delivered us to this precarious, disorienting moment in history.
West writes, “We were just a hair’s breadth from electing America’s first female president to succeed America’s first black president. We weren’t done, but we were doing it. And then, true to form—like the Balrog’s whip catching Gandalf by his little gray bootie, like the husband in a Lifetime movie hissing, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’—white American voters shoved an incompetent, racist con man into the White House.”
We cannot understand how we got here-how the land of the free became Trump’s America—without examining the chasm between who we are and who we think we are, without fact—checking the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. The truth can transform us; there is witchcraft in it. Lindy West turns on the light.
THIS IS A WITCH HUNT.
WE’RE WITCHES,
AND WE’RE HUNTING YOU.
From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill, Lindy West, turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You’ve got one.
In a laugh-out-loud, incisive cultural critique, West extolls the world-changing magic of truth, urging readers to reckon with dark lies in the heart of the American mythos, and unpacking the complicated, and sometimes tragic, politics of not being a white man in the twenty-first century. She tracks the misogyny and propaganda hidden (or not so hidden) in the media she and her peers devoured growing up, a buffet of distortions, delusions, prejudice, and outright bullsh*t that has allowed white male mediocrity to maintain a death grip on American culture and politics-and that delivered us to this precarious, disorienting moment in history.
West writes, “We were just a hair’s breadth from electing America’s first female president to succeed America’s first black president. We weren’t done, but we were doing it. And then, true to form—like the Balrog’s whip catching Gandalf by his little gray bootie, like the husband in a Lifetime movie hissing, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’—white American voters shoved an incompetent, racist con man into the White House.”
We cannot understand how we got here-how the land of the free became Trump’s America—without examining the chasm between who we are and who we think we are, without fact—checking the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. The truth can transform us; there is witchcraft in it. Lindy West turns on the light.
260 pages, Hardcover
First published November 5, 2019
About the author
Lindy West
7 books2,867 followersLindy West is a columnist at The Guardian, a contributor to This American Life, and a freelance writer whose work focuses on feminism, social justice, humor, and body image. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, Jezebel, The Stranger, and others. She is the founder of I Believe You, It's Not Your Fault, an advice blog for teens, as well as the reproductive rights destigmatization campaign #ShoutYourAbortion.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,295 reviews
January 17, 2020
3 1/2 stars. I did enjoy this one quite a bit. Lindy West is such a funny, insightful person and I literally laughed out loud a good few times while reading this. And, to be honest, it doesn't hurt that I agree with 90% of what she says.
But maybe that's a bit of the problem? I felt like this book didn't really say anything new, break any new ground. It's a book that preaches directly to the choir of liberal readers like myself who nod along to the same ideas we've been reading and listening to for at least the last four years. West covers Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, Donald Trump, climate change, misogyny, white nationalism, body positivity, abortion... and it felt like a regurgitation of various arguments I've already read.
Not just in general, too, but actually from West herself. She said some of the same things in her memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, and the abortion chapter basically goes over how she started the #ShoutYourAbortion hashtag and the plot of the pilot episode of the Hulu adaptation of Shrill.
The few new additions West brings to the table I found mixed. The Goop chapter was funny because rich white people "detoxifying" themselves generally is quite funny. I don't know if I am just too young to "get" the Adam Sandler critique - West spends a whole chapter deconstructing the plots of his movies - but I wanted to skim that part. And I know this is sacrilege to some, but I was a serious child and never liked South Park so the revelation that the creators are diehard Republicans didn't move me like I think it was supposed to.
When other kids were watching South Park, I was watching Dirty Dancing (bad for my romantic expectations; great for my taste in music IMO) so I did fully relate to Penny being the first abortion I ever saw on screen. Thinking about it, I don't know how I'm not more traumatized.
One of the more interesting chapters really put something into perspective and it is... chilling. West discusses how people are obsessed with Ted Bundy and his "charm", his "charisma", the "waste of [his] life". He could brutally murder all those women and still the judge who sentenced him clearly wanted to take him for a beer. And yet women like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren are scrutinised for their likability... are they too cold? Too hysterical? Too damn unlikable? It would be funny if it wasn't so horrifying.
I do recommend this book if you haven't already exhausted yourself on the topics listed in the second paragraph. It's a funny cultural critique of everything from nineties movies to the current political climate. Though it's a shame this book will likely never make it into the hands of those who actually need to read it.
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But maybe that's a bit of the problem? I felt like this book didn't really say anything new, break any new ground. It's a book that preaches directly to the choir of liberal readers like myself who nod along to the same ideas we've been reading and listening to for at least the last four years. West covers Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, Donald Trump, climate change, misogyny, white nationalism, body positivity, abortion... and it felt like a regurgitation of various arguments I've already read.
Not just in general, too, but actually from West herself. She said some of the same things in her memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, and the abortion chapter basically goes over how she started the #ShoutYourAbortion hashtag and the plot of the pilot episode of the Hulu adaptation of Shrill.
The few new additions West brings to the table I found mixed. The Goop chapter was funny because rich white people "detoxifying" themselves generally is quite funny. I don't know if I am just too young to "get" the Adam Sandler critique - West spends a whole chapter deconstructing the plots of his movies - but I wanted to skim that part. And I know this is sacrilege to some, but I was a serious child and never liked South Park so the revelation that the creators are diehard Republicans didn't move me like I think it was supposed to.
When other kids were watching South Park, I was watching Dirty Dancing (bad for my romantic expectations; great for my taste in music IMO) so I did fully relate to Penny being the first abortion I ever saw on screen. Thinking about it, I don't know how I'm not more traumatized.
One of the more interesting chapters really put something into perspective and it is... chilling. West discusses how people are obsessed with Ted Bundy and his "charm", his "charisma", the "waste of [his] life". He could brutally murder all those women and still the judge who sentenced him clearly wanted to take him for a beer. And yet women like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren are scrutinised for their likability... are they too cold? Too hysterical? Too damn unlikable? It would be funny if it wasn't so horrifying.
I do recommend this book if you haven't already exhausted yourself on the topics listed in the second paragraph. It's a funny cultural critique of everything from nineties movies to the current political climate. Though it's a shame this book will likely never make it into the hands of those who actually need to read it.
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May 30, 2021
It seems as if nothing has been learned out of the sad period of inquisition and burning witches, because just not talking about problems such as sexual abuse, fat shaming, rape culture, abortion, gender pay gap, sexism in media, etc, and doing as if they didn´t exist anymore in White Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic, or bigoted, hypocritical, etc. countries, is worsening the problem through downplaying and ignorance.
West owns the ridiculous democratic, educational, media, heck, all systems and just shows them what they are. I´ve read quite a lot of anti racist, pro equality and social change, feminist, progressive literature over the years and am coming to a point where I would say that I can give the quality seal of perfect, objective, fact based, and true research distilled to an unbelievable book.
Think about that, all the Big History, free independent whistleblower citizen journalism works completely ignored by all mainstream media, not discussed, debated, not influencing laws or politics. It´s so sick and disturbing, after realizing the true state of society, that one truly doesn´t want to participate or help any of these so called, pseudo democratic institutions, organizations, and, in their core and hearth, deeply racist, hateful, misogynic, feudal, and elitist systems.
That´s why witch hunt is such an appropriate title, that´s what´s happening each time when someone dares to speak up and protest against atrocities, unfair systems, and very especially, offender protection. Because poor old serial rapists don´t know that that´s not trendy anymore, molesting and grooming have drastically fallen in public popularity, but please, don´t be so serious about it, are you a misandric ageist who doesn´t want him to have some fun before funeral when he is already that old? Boys are boys too and the girls asked for it, as always, those little witches.
It makes one so sick to think about it. I am, subjectively, very sure that the sad truth is that there is more hate trolling, slut shaming, victim blaming, and downplaying and relativizing media articles than people standing up against sexual violence, rape, abuse, and psychological manipulation, that it´s a minority of people who aren´t directly or indirectly promoting such behavior and helping the criminals to get away with.
This is very often accompanied by the role of the victim, of course exclusively for criminal offenders and people with destructive, dangerous mindsets, the real victims should please get over it silently. That´s what I´ve read, heard, and seen whenever talking to people about controversial topics myself, one comes with detailed, hard, proven data, logical and universally acclaimed facts, and the other one is just like: "I am offended by this nasty topic. You make me sad, I feel bad, that´s unfair, you don´t have the right to do that, how evil." Sure, adult, pseudo sophisticated, privileged, white, people who hardly ever had to really do hard physical work in their lives, never suffered from abuse, don´t feel good when it´s getting serious, and attack the legions of hundreds of millions of women who were victims of crimes so disgusting most of these hypocritical do gooders could never overcome such trauma themselves.
It´s strongly reminding me of
Khan Cullors Patrisse´s When they call you a terrorist A black lives matter memoir
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
and Kantor Jodi She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
because it shows the same problem. People who are have been discriminated for centuries, women and people of color, are wanting nothing more than the same right, legal protection, freedom of speech, basically the same human rights their opponents have for generations, and get nothing but violence, discrimination, hate, death threats, and real killings. As if the history of suppression and exploitation hasn´t been enough, these anachronistic creatures keep attacking their former victims who dare to rebel and fight for their rights.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogniti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirm...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberst...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancip...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employm...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminiz...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasligh...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intra-h...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_m...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaga...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_cu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slut-sh...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereot...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaid_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valuati...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violenc...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%2...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workpla...
West owns the ridiculous democratic, educational, media, heck, all systems and just shows them what they are. I´ve read quite a lot of anti racist, pro equality and social change, feminist, progressive literature over the years and am coming to a point where I would say that I can give the quality seal of perfect, objective, fact based, and true research distilled to an unbelievable book.
Think about that, all the Big History, free independent whistleblower citizen journalism works completely ignored by all mainstream media, not discussed, debated, not influencing laws or politics. It´s so sick and disturbing, after realizing the true state of society, that one truly doesn´t want to participate or help any of these so called, pseudo democratic institutions, organizations, and, in their core and hearth, deeply racist, hateful, misogynic, feudal, and elitist systems.
That´s why witch hunt is such an appropriate title, that´s what´s happening each time when someone dares to speak up and protest against atrocities, unfair systems, and very especially, offender protection. Because poor old serial rapists don´t know that that´s not trendy anymore, molesting and grooming have drastically fallen in public popularity, but please, don´t be so serious about it, are you a misandric ageist who doesn´t want him to have some fun before funeral when he is already that old? Boys are boys too and the girls asked for it, as always, those little witches.
It makes one so sick to think about it. I am, subjectively, very sure that the sad truth is that there is more hate trolling, slut shaming, victim blaming, and downplaying and relativizing media articles than people standing up against sexual violence, rape, abuse, and psychological manipulation, that it´s a minority of people who aren´t directly or indirectly promoting such behavior and helping the criminals to get away with.
This is very often accompanied by the role of the victim, of course exclusively for criminal offenders and people with destructive, dangerous mindsets, the real victims should please get over it silently. That´s what I´ve read, heard, and seen whenever talking to people about controversial topics myself, one comes with detailed, hard, proven data, logical and universally acclaimed facts, and the other one is just like: "I am offended by this nasty topic. You make me sad, I feel bad, that´s unfair, you don´t have the right to do that, how evil." Sure, adult, pseudo sophisticated, privileged, white, people who hardly ever had to really do hard physical work in their lives, never suffered from abuse, don´t feel good when it´s getting serious, and attack the legions of hundreds of millions of women who were victims of crimes so disgusting most of these hypocritical do gooders could never overcome such trauma themselves.
It´s strongly reminding me of
Khan Cullors Patrisse´s When they call you a terrorist A black lives matter memoir
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
and Kantor Jodi She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
because it shows the same problem. People who are have been discriminated for centuries, women and people of color, are wanting nothing more than the same right, legal protection, freedom of speech, basically the same human rights their opponents have for generations, and get nothing but violence, discrimination, hate, death threats, and real killings. As if the history of suppression and exploitation hasn´t been enough, these anachronistic creatures keep attacking their former victims who dare to rebel and fight for their rights.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogniti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirm...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberst...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancip...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employm...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminiz...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasligh...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intra-h...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_m...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaga...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychol...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_cu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slut-sh...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereot...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaid_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valuati...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violenc...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%2...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workpla...
November 17, 2019
I agree with much of what Lindy West says in her new book, but I can't shake the feeling I had when I read her first book. That feeling is of confusion - why aren't I liking this book better when I agree with a lot of what is being said? In no way am I trying to be judgmental or say the tone of this book is wrong - it's just not my particular style.
There were some essays I liked more than others (I also share being mystified by Adam Sandler's popularity), I laughed out loud during the Goop one (how ridiculous) and the one on Women and how from a young age we are fed though pop culture the way girls behave/act/look and the same for boys.
I appreciate how this book opened up my eyes to look at things differently. Certain ways of thinking are just so engrained that it's hard to re-learn what you just absorbed as a child. What I also think is unfortunate is that the part of our population that would benefit greatly from reading this - won't, and the people who agree already share the same opinion and don't really have anywhere to go from here. I guess that's the real problem with our polarized society. We're all just talking (or screaming) into the void and there is no real conversation in the middle.
Review Date: 11/17/19
Publication Date: 11/05/19
There were some essays I liked more than others (I also share being mystified by Adam Sandler's popularity), I laughed out loud during the Goop one (how ridiculous) and the one on Women and how from a young age we are fed though pop culture the way girls behave/act/look and the same for boys.
I appreciate how this book opened up my eyes to look at things differently. Certain ways of thinking are just so engrained that it's hard to re-learn what you just absorbed as a child. What I also think is unfortunate is that the part of our population that would benefit greatly from reading this - won't, and the people who agree already share the same opinion and don't really have anywhere to go from here. I guess that's the real problem with our polarized society. We're all just talking (or screaming) into the void and there is no real conversation in the middle.
Review Date: 11/17/19
Publication Date: 11/05/19
August 5, 2020
"Yes, we are witches, and we're hunting you."
What an impressive and readable collection of essays. Lindy West, the author of Shrill, has returned and she's ready to share some facts and clapbacks.
I have to be honest, these essays were at times hard to read--not necessarily due to the author, but due to the wounds that they reopened for me. Being a woman in today's world isn't easy, and we're still fighting to be heard. Being a woman in America...yeah, it's rough. These essays have receipts. They have anecdotes. And they'll throw you into each and every one of the political turmoils of the now.
The title The Witches Are Coming is derived from West's analysis of Trump's frequent use of the phrase "witch hunt." While Trump is determined to use it as a label that is pro-men, West is quick to remind us that witches were always women who spoke out and had agency, and the phrase "witch hunt" has historical roots in female oppression...not the other way around. So for West, yes, the "witches" are coming. And it's time for a reckoning and reclaiming of the term.
Also, a side note: the chapter on Adam Sandler is inspiring. I, too, hate Adam Sandler for what he represents. West gets it. You tell 'em, girl.
Thank you to Hachette for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What an impressive and readable collection of essays. Lindy West, the author of Shrill, has returned and she's ready to share some facts and clapbacks.
I have to be honest, these essays were at times hard to read--not necessarily due to the author, but due to the wounds that they reopened for me. Being a woman in today's world isn't easy, and we're still fighting to be heard. Being a woman in America...yeah, it's rough. These essays have receipts. They have anecdotes. And they'll throw you into each and every one of the political turmoils of the now.
The title The Witches Are Coming is derived from West's analysis of Trump's frequent use of the phrase "witch hunt." While Trump is determined to use it as a label that is pro-men, West is quick to remind us that witches were always women who spoke out and had agency, and the phrase "witch hunt" has historical roots in female oppression...not the other way around. So for West, yes, the "witches" are coming. And it's time for a reckoning and reclaiming of the term.
Also, a side note: the chapter on Adam Sandler is inspiring. I, too, hate Adam Sandler for what he represents. West gets it. You tell 'em, girl.
Thank you to Hachette for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 3, 2020
I don't want to start on a bad note, but I didn't love this book. I felt it preached to the people who pretty much already 100% agree with the author and though I agree with her on many points, I also found some of them a little problematic and likely alienating to those who are slightly less fervent than the author about certain issues. Of course an author knows her audience and there's nothing wrong with that, but I had expected something a little different here, which may well be my own fault. I liked "Shrill" and I think I would get along well with Lindy West, but I felt that her views are expressed in as black and white a manner as people on the very opposite end of the political and ideological spectrum would present theirs, which is to say, little argument would be accepted, minds are firmly made up. Maybe I am being unfair, but I also expected a little more depth and maybe some more new ideas from this book and its author. I respect West for being upfront and addressing points that are important to her, but the ones she chose, while relevant, did not feel revelatory or especially thought-provoking. In many respects I whole-heartedly agree with her, but the issue, I think, is that her readers will be like me, people who already mostly think the way she does. I don't think, with this book, she will reach those who do not already think like her. Another point that irked me a little was that she advocated "getting angry", because nice girls don't win. This is a point I have come to find very irritating nowadays. Yes, sometimes you have to get upset to get involved; yes, sometimes anger is unavoidable, but ultimately, I still want to believe, naively perhaps, that being kind, being thoughtful, and even reserved, thinking before ranting, is worth a lot, too. This world could use more of that and less anger. All in all, I thought this was okay, but it also fell short of what I hoped it would be. That being said, I still think West is well-intentioned and I will be interested in reading what she comes up with next.
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
September 14, 2021
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Lindy West is a relatively new author for me. I've never seen or read Shrill, the work from which she drew fame; the first thing of hers I read was her collection of essays about popular films. That collection of essays was one of the funniest things I've ever read. I don't think I've laughed out loud so much since reading David Sedaris's DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM. That collection of essays was the impetus that finally got me to watch The Fugitive. Obviously, I needed to read more of what this woman wrote, asap.
THE WITCHES ARE COMING is quite a different beast from her other book. It's still funny, in parts, but the overall tone is much more despairing and serious. This book was written during Trump's presidency and reflects a lot of growing frustrations shared by people who ended up further marginalized under his callous leadership. A lot of the complaints about this book are about the fact that it's too political and too depressing, but I think that's the point. It's a call to action. Nobody listens to a polite whistle. You need an air horn.
Luckily for me, West has very similar views to me when it comes to politics and pop-culture (the only thing we majorly disagree on is pockets-- I'm sorry but dresses with pockets are the BEST and I will fight you, Lindy West). I found myself agreeing with a lot of what she was saying and also the way she said it. Some might find her essays long and meandering and they do circle around a lot, making multiple loops sometimes before she finally goes back to her original point, but the journey is part of experiencing the destination and some of her side-tangents ended up being really engaging.
Some of the topics she writes about that were particularly noteworthy to me: society's tolerance with problematic or flawed men while condemning women for basically breathing too loud and not being nice enough; bad and/or limited female representation in media-- either in the roles or the production of; why Gwyneth Paltrow is ridiculous (although honestly, this essay was the weakest-- you should check out Cynical Reviews on YouTube for his takedown of both Gwynnie and Goop Lab); South Park and why its creators actually suck a lot; reproductive rights and why they matter; men feeling marginalized even though they're not and how that can lead to violence and bullying of women; and the importance of combating climate change and participating in causes you care about.
It's a pretty big mixed bag of subjects but I really enjoyed most of these essays, and I liked that she chose to end the collection on a note of hope after dealing some pretty emotionally intense truths. My friends had a lukewarm reception to this book on the whole, but I'd honestly recommend it to anyone.
4.5 stars
November 7, 2019
3.5 stars. I'm a bit conflicted on this one but I can't bring myself to rate it less than 4 stars because a) I love Lindy West and want her to succeed b) I enjoyed parts of this immensely - there were moments that made me think, moments that made me feel (I got teary-eyed over Guy Fieri for gods sakes). West writes in this way that is so chatty and fun and easy to read that I kept having these little fissures of shock every time I remembered that, oh yeah, she's also really fucken smart.
So why, then, did this not totally rock my world? Why did I find myself wanting to skim through chunks of it?
I think that for me a lot of it felt like a retread. Maybe it's that I've done a lot more reading on various feminist/social issues in the last 3 years since I read and loved Shrill, but there was a lot here that didn't exactly feel new. There are some really quality moments of wisdom, some nice quotable nuggets, and there are several main themes that I would have loved to see expanded (our predilection for turning away from truth and going with the flow, how many people choose to cease growing as they get older, how we are taught it's not cool to care, etc.).
But I don't think it was enough for me. I don't need to be convinced that sexism or racism or classism or fatphobia or climate change are a problem. And what's the point of merely stating the problem? What are we here for? Solidarity? Laughs? Those are here, definitely, but doesn't it all just feel a little like... preaching to the choir?
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting or asking for too much, but I wanted something that's more about moving us forward. I kept impatiently thinking "Yes, and..?"
Sigh. I don't know. This wasn't bad, by any means. Parts of it were really good! I laughed! I cried! And obviously a lot of people are loving it! I just expected to whole-ass love it when I only actually half-ass did, and I guess I'm a little bummed about it.
So why, then, did this not totally rock my world? Why did I find myself wanting to skim through chunks of it?
I think that for me a lot of it felt like a retread. Maybe it's that I've done a lot more reading on various feminist/social issues in the last 3 years since I read and loved Shrill, but there was a lot here that didn't exactly feel new. There are some really quality moments of wisdom, some nice quotable nuggets, and there are several main themes that I would have loved to see expanded (our predilection for turning away from truth and going with the flow, how many people choose to cease growing as they get older, how we are taught it's not cool to care, etc.).
But I don't think it was enough for me. I don't need to be convinced that sexism or racism or classism or fatphobia or climate change are a problem. And what's the point of merely stating the problem? What are we here for? Solidarity? Laughs? Those are here, definitely, but doesn't it all just feel a little like... preaching to the choir?
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting or asking for too much, but I wanted something that's more about moving us forward. I kept impatiently thinking "Yes, and..?"
Sigh. I don't know. This wasn't bad, by any means. Parts of it were really good! I laughed! I cried! And obviously a lot of people are loving it! I just expected to whole-ass love it when I only actually half-ass did, and I guess I'm a little bummed about it.
December 19, 2019
It’s absolutely wonderful, as is all of lindys writing. Thought provoking and funny. I devoured it.
February 20, 2020
I deliberately chose The Witches Are Coming from the library's new release shelf because on occasion I like to step outside my comfort zone and read something that differs from my beliefs or opinions - in this case, subject matter involving some fairly extreme left-wing politics. This is one of those times that it did not fare so well. (Or, to paraphrase the elderly knight at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - "He chose . . . poorly." LOL) Author West certainly has some talent when it comes to composing an sharp essay, but she seems disturbingly proud of having absolutely zero tolerance for the opposite side of the political spectrum . . . to the point of it feeling insufferable and hypocritical. My original review was more harsh, but a GR friend (thankfully) offered some constructive criticism.
October 16, 2019
This was goddamn incredible - a fantastic, funny, insightful clapback of a book. I sometimes incorporate my favorite quotes from a work in a review, but if I did that with The Witches Are Coming, I'd be copying and pasting the whole book. This was my first read from Lindy West, and I was astounded at how much I love her writing. She discusses serious issues here, the most pressing and infuriating issues of our moment, but couches them in brilliant and funny entryways to make them accessible and inarguable to anyone. If your politics are even 20% similar to West, you will be snapping along so hard your fingers will fall off.
She discusses how America is intensely allergic to acknowledging when things are wrong through the story of Grumpy Cat's real name or Chip and Joanna Gaines's religious affiliation. She discusses the farcicality of "witch hunts" and shaming "identity politics" by talking about a gear-swapping Facebook group her husband is a part of (trust me, it makes sense when you read it). She discusses online harassment, portrayals of women and abortion in media, the privilege of wellness culture, and so much more.
But most importantly, just when you start to get a bit disillusioned with American society, she reminds you that the world is a beautiful place worth saving, that this country is ours and that your beliefs should not be shaken by all the people trying to shake them. You should hold firm in your activism and give a big ol "fuck you" to anyone who laughs at you, paints you as hysterical/angry/unproductive, tries to "trigger" you, harasses you, or tries to turn you standing up for what is right into the punchline of a joke.
Thank you for writing this kickass book, Lindy West - when it comes out, I am going to make all my friends and family read it. (Thanks to NetGalley and Hatchette for giving me the privilege of reading this ARC.)
She discusses how America is intensely allergic to acknowledging when things are wrong through the story of Grumpy Cat's real name or Chip and Joanna Gaines's religious affiliation. She discusses the farcicality of "witch hunts" and shaming "identity politics" by talking about a gear-swapping Facebook group her husband is a part of (trust me, it makes sense when you read it). She discusses online harassment, portrayals of women and abortion in media, the privilege of wellness culture, and so much more.
But most importantly, just when you start to get a bit disillusioned with American society, she reminds you that the world is a beautiful place worth saving, that this country is ours and that your beliefs should not be shaken by all the people trying to shake them. You should hold firm in your activism and give a big ol "fuck you" to anyone who laughs at you, paints you as hysterical/angry/unproductive, tries to "trigger" you, harasses you, or tries to turn you standing up for what is right into the punchline of a joke.
Thank you for writing this kickass book, Lindy West - when it comes out, I am going to make all my friends and family read it. (Thanks to NetGalley and Hatchette for giving me the privilege of reading this ARC.)
January 7, 2023
Thank you, Netgalley, for an advanced copy for review!
I have been reading a ton of feminist literature recently and they were starting to blend together, so I took this nice and slow.
This book was fantastic, taking a place for me among the recent feminist literary giants like Feminasty or Good and Mad of the past year or so. Surprisingly, I hadn’t heard of Lindy or her social media storm and other happenings of the past few years, so I went in unbiased, and I was glad for it.
Firstly, this book is quotable as heck. For the sake of this being an advanced copy I read, I think I’m not allowed to quote anything, but consider it sufficient to say I want to just print this book on a scroll, walk to public areas, unravel it across the pavement and get up on a soapbox to read it aloud. It’s great. Any chapter would make an excellent oration – in fact, the audiobook version, if being made, will probably be fantastic, just like Feminasty was; some stuff needs snarky enunciation and so forth. The book was written in a great tone for those formats of delivery – alternating internet slang with millennial street lingo with scholarly rhetoric that I want to engrave on something. That exact tone, casual with strong tones of exasperation, made it extremely readable and relatable reading.
Lindy covers a lot in this book, a lot that rational women today should be mad about, concerned with, or fighting for actively. Her frank explication of #MeToo, abortions and how they really aren’t the big deal everyone thinks they are, Adam Sandler’s comedy, heck, even GOOP by Gwyneth Paltrow. Lindy’s there with an unvarnished take on most things that have come up in at least my own personal life. Trump is more than hateful rhetoric, she impresses, he is the embodiment and symptom of hate and gross behavior that has grown like a tumor beneath America’s skin for years and years. And climate change. She doesn’t hold back, and she is a native of Seattle, close to where I live, so her no-holds-barred take on how this crisis will affect it specifically hit home for me.
As I finished reading, I felt both hopeful and choked-up with frustration, just as Lindy is throughout these pages. We can do something to mitigate climate change, we can choose not to watch South Park or Adam Sandler movies, we can vote Donald Trump out (or impeach him, at this point).
I like that Lindy didn’t present a rose-colored glasses vision of anything; her blunt honesty is everything we need, and probably exactly why she was hounded on social media so viciously. Most can’t handle frank truth from feminists, and that’s a fact. But Lindy is hilarious, she makes sense, she is convincing. The witches are coming, and we can join and help them.
I have been reading a ton of feminist literature recently and they were starting to blend together, so I took this nice and slow.
This book was fantastic, taking a place for me among the recent feminist literary giants like Feminasty or Good and Mad of the past year or so. Surprisingly, I hadn’t heard of Lindy or her social media storm and other happenings of the past few years, so I went in unbiased, and I was glad for it.
Firstly, this book is quotable as heck. For the sake of this being an advanced copy I read, I think I’m not allowed to quote anything, but consider it sufficient to say I want to just print this book on a scroll, walk to public areas, unravel it across the pavement and get up on a soapbox to read it aloud. It’s great. Any chapter would make an excellent oration – in fact, the audiobook version, if being made, will probably be fantastic, just like Feminasty was; some stuff needs snarky enunciation and so forth. The book was written in a great tone for those formats of delivery – alternating internet slang with millennial street lingo with scholarly rhetoric that I want to engrave on something. That exact tone, casual with strong tones of exasperation, made it extremely readable and relatable reading.
Lindy covers a lot in this book, a lot that rational women today should be mad about, concerned with, or fighting for actively. Her frank explication of #MeToo, abortions and how they really aren’t the big deal everyone thinks they are, Adam Sandler’s comedy, heck, even GOOP by Gwyneth Paltrow. Lindy’s there with an unvarnished take on most things that have come up in at least my own personal life. Trump is more than hateful rhetoric, she impresses, he is the embodiment and symptom of hate and gross behavior that has grown like a tumor beneath America’s skin for years and years. And climate change. She doesn’t hold back, and she is a native of Seattle, close to where I live, so her no-holds-barred take on how this crisis will affect it specifically hit home for me.
As I finished reading, I felt both hopeful and choked-up with frustration, just as Lindy is throughout these pages. We can do something to mitigate climate change, we can choose not to watch South Park or Adam Sandler movies, we can vote Donald Trump out (or impeach him, at this point).
I like that Lindy didn’t present a rose-colored glasses vision of anything; her blunt honesty is everything we need, and probably exactly why she was hounded on social media so viciously. Most can’t handle frank truth from feminists, and that’s a fact. But Lindy is hilarious, she makes sense, she is convincing. The witches are coming, and we can join and help them.
November 26, 2019
Given the way the last couple years have gone, I expected The Witches Are Coming to be about all of the elements of Trump's America that are relevant to Lindy West's interests: reproductive rights, pussy grabbing, Brett Kavanaugh. And certainly the book is about those things, but it also deals with some unexpected topics: South Park, Joan Rivers, West's husband's audiophile gear swap & sell group on Facebook. West always has a larger point to make, of course, and it's always a good and relevant point, but it took me a minute to get used to it, that this book is about... just whatever Lindy West feels like writing about.
Like Shrill, The Witches Are Coming never fails to be sharp, intelligent, interesting, and funny, but I found myself wishing West would apply her skills to a more sustained work. A nonfiction book that's an in-depth exploration of a single topic, maybe. Or even a novel: West's first love is comedy, and I kept thinking I'd like to see her use it in service of fiction (as she did, to a certain extent, in the Shrill TV series). I just think West's obvious talents could be used for something other than somewhat casual essays on somewhat related topics.
Which, I realize, kind of makes it sound as if I didn't like The Witches Are Coming. But I did! The highest compliment I can pay this book is that it makes clear that its author is talented enough to do something even better.
Like Shrill, The Witches Are Coming never fails to be sharp, intelligent, interesting, and funny, but I found myself wishing West would apply her skills to a more sustained work. A nonfiction book that's an in-depth exploration of a single topic, maybe. Or even a novel: West's first love is comedy, and I kept thinking I'd like to see her use it in service of fiction (as she did, to a certain extent, in the Shrill TV series). I just think West's obvious talents could be used for something other than somewhat casual essays on somewhat related topics.
Which, I realize, kind of makes it sound as if I didn't like The Witches Are Coming. But I did! The highest compliment I can pay this book is that it makes clear that its author is talented enough to do something even better.
November 13, 2019
“[The accusation of witch hunt] has the power to transform pretty much any credible accusation against a man into an unfair — nay unconstitutional — and unfounded smear campaign.” Doesn’t that ring a bell as we approach the first day of the Trump impeachment hearings? I had never heard of this author, but after reading the blurb and the introduction I was expecting something more serious than this book delivered. I learned after the fact that the author was responsible for a comedy TV series and wish that I had known that before I started reading. I also wish I had known this was a series of disjointed essays.
While I agree with her take on underlying feminist issues, I didn’t care for her writing style and all the pop culture references. The essay I disliked the most was “Is Adam Sandler Funny?” Really, no one is making you watch Adam Sandler. If you don’t like him, just don’t watch his movies. The author not only watched, but took extensive notes and then wove his transgressions into feminist complaints. The book is preaching to the already converted. I didn’t get the feeling that I was going to learn anything new and I wasn’t being entertained, so I bailed out after 7 essays.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
While I agree with her take on underlying feminist issues, I didn’t care for her writing style and all the pop culture references. The essay I disliked the most was “Is Adam Sandler Funny?” Really, no one is making you watch Adam Sandler. If you don’t like him, just don’t watch his movies. The author not only watched, but took extensive notes and then wove his transgressions into feminist complaints. The book is preaching to the already converted. I didn’t get the feeling that I was going to learn anything new and I wasn’t being entertained, so I bailed out after 7 essays.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
April 18, 2020
My love for Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman cannot be understated. It was a memoir that was authentic, smart, and funny. When I started that book, I had no idea who Lindy West was; when I finished that book, it landed on my favorites shelf and I told everybody to listen to it. It was like the second coming of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. Then this book happened and *crickets* from over here.
Lindy, you know I love you but seriously? How can you be SO intolerant of literally every single person who disagrees with your opinions? Why do you seem proud of that intolerance? Is it just me or do you seem to be belittling those who don't subscribe to your views? And how can you sound so superior and condescending about very polarizing issues without even trying to glance at the other side of the argument? I kind of feel like you're yelling at me.
You're a good writer, but in this collection, one long-winded sentence often bled into the next to create a confusing mishmash of rants. In fact, this collection of largely unrelated essays felt like one long negative rant. What bears mentioning here is that I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I expected to laugh some, nod along, be challenged to rethink some things and bookmark a bunch of amazing quotes, but not this time. I can't get behind the anger about everything and I may be just a little too old for all of this. Sadly, 1 star.
Lindy, you know I love you but seriously? How can you be SO intolerant of literally every single person who disagrees with your opinions? Why do you seem proud of that intolerance? Is it just me or do you seem to be belittling those who don't subscribe to your views? And how can you sound so superior and condescending about very polarizing issues without even trying to glance at the other side of the argument? I kind of feel like you're yelling at me.
You're a good writer, but in this collection, one long-winded sentence often bled into the next to create a confusing mishmash of rants. In fact, this collection of largely unrelated essays felt like one long negative rant. What bears mentioning here is that I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I expected to laugh some, nod along, be challenged to rethink some things and bookmark a bunch of amazing quotes, but not this time. I can't get behind the anger about everything and I may be just a little too old for all of this. Sadly, 1 star.
October 6, 2021
3.5 ☆
Prior to picking up this title for a buddy read, I knew nothing about Lindy West. From the GR summary, I thought that West was a comedian, but she’s a great deal more than that.
In The Witches Are Coming, she tackles American culture and how it’s been structured by white males for the benefit of white males. West speaks out on behalf of not only women but for all those other ethnicities and races who didn’t get the mantle of power and status as their immediate birthright because they weren’t born with XY chromosomes and with the “right” skin color.
I didn’t love but did enjoy and agreed conceptually with most of West’s 16 essays. I wouldn’t say that her material was anything groundbreaking to females, who are most likely to be her readers. My favorite topic West addressed was how “likeability is a con.” Anything about a woman can be picked on (voice, body, hair, shoes, kids, no kids, sex, no sex, money, no money, inhale, exhale...do anything, die) and deemed an unlikeable aspect and thus a reason to dismiss anything that woman has to say. A (white) man, however, can murder, steal everyone’s money, grab a woman by her p***y and won’t automatically be deemed unlikeable. Case in point was the Judge’s effusive praise for the wasted potential of serial murderer Ted Bundy during his sentencing.
My least-liked topics included the ones on popular culture and I would say about a quarter of The Witches Are Coming was lost on me. I’ve watched and enjoyed two movies by Adam Sandler, and that’s all I care to view. I have never watched “South Park” nor have I ever willingly listened to the vitriol spewed out by Joan Rivers as “comedic fodder.”
I do, however, applaud West’s persistence in speaking out the truth. She’s fighting the good fight and making a target of herself because truth is more important than succumbing to the con of likeability.
Prior to picking up this title for a buddy read, I knew nothing about Lindy West. From the GR summary, I thought that West was a comedian, but she’s a great deal more than that.
In The Witches Are Coming, she tackles American culture and how it’s been structured by white males for the benefit of white males. West speaks out on behalf of not only women but for all those other ethnicities and races who didn’t get the mantle of power and status as their immediate birthright because they weren’t born with XY chromosomes and with the “right” skin color.
I didn’t love but did enjoy and agreed conceptually with most of West’s 16 essays. I wouldn’t say that her material was anything groundbreaking to females, who are most likely to be her readers. My favorite topic West addressed was how “likeability is a con.” Anything about a woman can be picked on (voice, body, hair, shoes, kids, no kids, sex, no sex, money, no money, inhale, exhale...do anything, die) and deemed an unlikeable aspect and thus a reason to dismiss anything that woman has to say. A (white) man, however, can murder, steal everyone’s money, grab a woman by her p***y and won’t automatically be deemed unlikeable. Case in point was the Judge’s effusive praise for the wasted potential of serial murderer Ted Bundy during his sentencing.
My least-liked topics included the ones on popular culture and I would say about a quarter of The Witches Are Coming was lost on me. I’ve watched and enjoyed two movies by Adam Sandler, and that’s all I care to view. I have never watched “South Park” nor have I ever willingly listened to the vitriol spewed out by Joan Rivers as “comedic fodder.”
I do, however, applaud West’s persistence in speaking out the truth. She’s fighting the good fight and making a target of herself because truth is more important than succumbing to the con of likeability.
October 17, 2019
I think this book will have a strong following, it just wasn't for me. I found a lot of the arguments to be very commonly agreed upon in most feminist academia or writings these days, so people who have followed those conversations won't find much new ground here. West is rather far to the left in her personal leanings, which is completely fine, but that means it wouldn't likely reach an audience that hadn't come across these ideas yet either. Basically, it felt like a well written book that's preaching to the choir without moving the conversation forward. There was also a fair amount devoted to Twitter, which is likely interesting to heavy users of the platform, but I am not very interested in that culture personally.
September 25, 2019
“This is a witch hunt. We’re witches, and we’re hunting you.”
God, I missed Lindy West. I mean, she didn’t go anywhere and I read Shrill only two months ago and I still haven’t seen the show and she’s written pieces for a dozen or so other media outlets, but I still miiiiiiissed her!
While Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman was a lot of West’s own personal life, growth and realizations, The Witches Are Coming examines societal shifts more holistically and offers a ruthlessly necessary cultural critique. If her previous book was in part a crash course on the history of the internet up through the first half of 2016, we’re now taken on a trip through many generation-defining events that have taken place over the past three and a half years. The election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the #MeToo movement—these all have happened in the relatively short but also inexplicably long period since. In addressing not only these happenings, but the inevitable backlash to the backlash, Lindy West provides a thoughtful and well-reasoned examination of subjects that still are too discomfiting to bring up in some ‘polite company’. And she does it all with the same level of cutting humor that you’d come to expect from her work.
And, guys, it’s really really funny. I was cracking up over even the chapter titles. Come on, Ted Bundy Was Not Charming—Are You High? That’s fucking classic; I want it embroidered on a pillow or something. And she replicates one of my favorite parts of her last book, which was the reflective look at one the idols of her youth, Howard Stern. But instead of Stern this time, she devotes entire chapters to examining the legacies of comedy legends such as Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers. Even some of the chapter titles, like Is Adam Sandler Funny? , would be enough provocation to set off a pack of furious fanboys to defend his honor, but I beg you all to take the time to read what she’s written. These aren’t hit pieces; the conclusions she reaches are nuanced and even the criticisms aren’t really levied at the performer personally, but at the society that shaped as well as consumed them.
Even those who weren’t #blessed with their own chapter received credit where it was due. Ricky Gervais and Louis C.K.’s contributions to comedy aren’t merely tossed aside by a changing world, but they also aren’t immune to being challenged by it. One of the funniest chapters features Gwyneth Paltrow in all her Goopiness and it’s not mocking or glowing in the way we’ve come to expect towards her, but instead is refreshingly giddy and candid. West balances comic whimsy and difficult truths with the same level of deftness as Mary Poppins, disguising the bitterness of medicine with a spoonful of sugar. It really does make it all easier to swallow.
Most chapters feature a story from West’s own life, either a hilarious anecdote or a moment of frustration, that is used as a segue into a topic of importance for her. A few are really Trojan Horses that don’t reveal their true nature until further into the piece, but some are upfront about the content for good reason. In What Is an Abortion, Anyway? she discusses not just her own real abortion, but her fictional one as well. Her insistence to include Shrill’s main character, Annie’s, abortion in the pilot was the same determination that birthed the #ShoutYourAbortion movement online. While not as satirical as the other essays, it’s just as sharp and truly beneficial to anyone who considers themselves pro-choice.
Real talk, I was so giggly while reading this. My Kindle copy is so full of highlighted passages that if I had done the same thing to a physical copy it would be like 65% highlighter. Her self-awareness makes her so endearing and her biting wit is funny as hell—I just thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this book. The end left me optimistic and with a sense of pending accomplishment, which, yeah, is probably unearned at this stage, but with a clear path forward. I don’t know what else to say; Lindy West left me feeling happy and gave me some hope.
*Thanks to Hachette Books & Netgalley for an advance copy!
God, I missed Lindy West. I mean, she didn’t go anywhere and I read Shrill only two months ago and I still haven’t seen the show and she’s written pieces for a dozen or so other media outlets, but I still miiiiiiissed her!
While Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman was a lot of West’s own personal life, growth and realizations, The Witches Are Coming examines societal shifts more holistically and offers a ruthlessly necessary cultural critique. If her previous book was in part a crash course on the history of the internet up through the first half of 2016, we’re now taken on a trip through many generation-defining events that have taken place over the past three and a half years. The election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the #MeToo movement—these all have happened in the relatively short but also inexplicably long period since. In addressing not only these happenings, but the inevitable backlash to the backlash, Lindy West provides a thoughtful and well-reasoned examination of subjects that still are too discomfiting to bring up in some ‘polite company’. And she does it all with the same level of cutting humor that you’d come to expect from her work.
And, guys, it’s really really funny. I was cracking up over even the chapter titles. Come on, Ted Bundy Was Not Charming—Are You High? That’s fucking classic; I want it embroidered on a pillow or something. And she replicates one of my favorite parts of her last book, which was the reflective look at one the idols of her youth, Howard Stern. But instead of Stern this time, she devotes entire chapters to examining the legacies of comedy legends such as Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers. Even some of the chapter titles, like Is Adam Sandler Funny? , would be enough provocation to set off a pack of furious fanboys to defend his honor, but I beg you all to take the time to read what she’s written. These aren’t hit pieces; the conclusions she reaches are nuanced and even the criticisms aren’t really levied at the performer personally, but at the society that shaped as well as consumed them.
Even those who weren’t #blessed with their own chapter received credit where it was due. Ricky Gervais and Louis C.K.’s contributions to comedy aren’t merely tossed aside by a changing world, but they also aren’t immune to being challenged by it. One of the funniest chapters features Gwyneth Paltrow in all her Goopiness and it’s not mocking or glowing in the way we’ve come to expect towards her, but instead is refreshingly giddy and candid. West balances comic whimsy and difficult truths with the same level of deftness as Mary Poppins, disguising the bitterness of medicine with a spoonful of sugar. It really does make it all easier to swallow.
Most chapters feature a story from West’s own life, either a hilarious anecdote or a moment of frustration, that is used as a segue into a topic of importance for her. A few are really Trojan Horses that don’t reveal their true nature until further into the piece, but some are upfront about the content for good reason. In What Is an Abortion, Anyway? she discusses not just her own real abortion, but her fictional one as well. Her insistence to include Shrill’s main character, Annie’s, abortion in the pilot was the same determination that birthed the #ShoutYourAbortion movement online. While not as satirical as the other essays, it’s just as sharp and truly beneficial to anyone who considers themselves pro-choice.
Real talk, I was so giggly while reading this. My Kindle copy is so full of highlighted passages that if I had done the same thing to a physical copy it would be like 65% highlighter. Her self-awareness makes her so endearing and her biting wit is funny as hell—I just thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this book. The end left me optimistic and with a sense of pending accomplishment, which, yeah, is probably unearned at this stage, but with a clear path forward. I don’t know what else to say; Lindy West left me feeling happy and gave me some hope.
*Thanks to Hachette Books & Netgalley for an advance copy!
February 13, 2020
Thank you, Libro.fm and Hachette Audio, for the gifted audiobook.
Lindy West narrates this herself, and listening to her is an experience. More thoughts to come.
Lindy West narrates this herself, and listening to her is an experience. More thoughts to come.
April 8, 2020
5 Stars
The Witches Are Coming is hilarious and clever array of essays covering topics from Adam Sandler movies to Gwyneth Paltrow's Goopiness to the adversity that comes with having a larger body type. Lindy West covers it all in quick succession but with talking points that will stick with you and make you want to accost strangers into reading this book so you can just discuss it with somebody... anybody!
The Witches are Coming is play on the slogan that seems to be the favourite defence of some white men that just want to be racist, homophobic and sexist like the good old days and don't want to be called out for it. If someone tells them I'm sorry but I don't tolerate that kind of behaviour they drop to their knees and scream up to the sky WHY IS EVERYONE ATTACKING ME!?! It's a silly defence but it's a defence none the less most notably used and tweeted by the President of the United States who likes to scream WITCH HUNT to anyone choosing to oppose him. Lindy West took that sentiment and said fuck it maybe the witches are coming because things need to change! And if I'm going to be called hysterical because I'm passionate or on my period because I'm angry or a crazed man hating dyke (the haters words, not mine) because I'm a feminist I don't give a shit, and neither should you.
Lindy West's ability to find humour and optimism in the adversity that has rained down on her most of her life is pretty spectacular and if that's not a reason to pick up her book, I don't know what it.
The Witches Are Coming is hilarious and clever array of essays covering topics from Adam Sandler movies to Gwyneth Paltrow's Goopiness to the adversity that comes with having a larger body type. Lindy West covers it all in quick succession but with talking points that will stick with you and make you want to accost strangers into reading this book so you can just discuss it with somebody... anybody!
The Witches are Coming is play on the slogan that seems to be the favourite defence of some white men that just want to be racist, homophobic and sexist like the good old days and don't want to be called out for it. If someone tells them I'm sorry but I don't tolerate that kind of behaviour they drop to their knees and scream up to the sky WHY IS EVERYONE ATTACKING ME!?! It's a silly defence but it's a defence none the less most notably used and tweeted by the President of the United States who likes to scream WITCH HUNT to anyone choosing to oppose him. Lindy West took that sentiment and said fuck it maybe the witches are coming because things need to change! And if I'm going to be called hysterical because I'm passionate or on my period because I'm angry or a crazed man hating dyke (the haters words, not mine) because I'm a feminist I don't give a shit, and neither should you.
Lindy West's ability to find humour and optimism in the adversity that has rained down on her most of her life is pretty spectacular and if that's not a reason to pick up her book, I don't know what it.
January 1, 2020
4.5 stars
Perhaps I was in the exact right mood for this collection on the eve of the new year and the new decade. I found it to be just as compelling and well-written as Shrill. West has a knack for distilling complicated ideas and truths into pieces and parcels that are funny and easily understandable. This was just extremely for me, all of the through lines that connect media and internet trolls and pop-culture and activism and where we failed and where we have hope and the current presidency. In a chapter where she talks about quitting Twitter, I almost nearly just deleted my whole account, which is a big deal because I love that damn cess pool app.
I watched West's Shrill on Hulu this year and loved it. I enjoyed hearing pieces about that work, even though they were brief, but more I loved connecting ideas expressed her into West's fictional work.
My only quibbles is that I love collections of essays that have a more defined structure. There is a sort of theme here certainly, and the witch hunt thing pops up here and there, but with a bit more of a through-line, this could've been perfect.
March 2, 2023
I read Lindy West's book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman earlier this year and absolutely loved it. I wish that I had half of her intelligence, articulation, and bravery. I read her words, and it's like she's speaking from inside my own head, only smarter, funnier, and with better insight.
Her previous book was political, in a 'this is how the world being the way it is has affected and shaped me' kind of way. THIS book is political in a far more direct and searing way, and I needed it right now. I needed the irreverent, scathing criticism, the demand for people get off their asses and actually CARE about something, the direct counter to the "everything is the same, and both sides suck" apathy so many people have lately.
As I read this book, I jotted down quite a few notes and quotes in my phone (because I was reading a hardcover edition of this book from the library and there's no note-taking capabilities in these things no matter how many times you long-press the page #oldschool #likeacaveman!) and looking through them, I realize that there's no freaking way that I would be able to include even half of them in anything resembling a coherent review. (As if I wrote those.) But some of them are pure gold.
Pg 63: "Likability in a sexist, racist culture is not objective- it's compulsory femininity, the gender binary, invisible labor, whiteness, smallness, sweetness. It's letting them do it.*
If someone is universally likable, I don't trust that person. That's the opposite of politics. I don't want a candidate that the alt-right likes. I don't want to have anything in common with George Zimmerman. A person's standard of likability is a reflection of his beliefs, and unfortunately, in this country, a whole lot of people believe that Donald Trump is not a racist shart in an eight-foot tie who is unqualified for literally every job except "lie down."
So no, excuse me, we will not play likability anymore. It's an endless runner - a game with no progress and no finish line - that women are expected to chase, that keeps us from doing the real work, accruing the real power."
*This is a reference to Donald Trump's "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." comment.
Pg 114: "The Trump era has produced a insidious strain of political amnesia, leading otherwise rational left-wing people to feel warm things for George W. Bush because he paints pictures of kitties and shares his gumdrops with Michelle Obama and because a toilet demon is president now and a bungling, babbling warmonger seems like a gorgeous statesman by comparison. (Sheepish disclosure: I briefly fell for the cat paintings.) But how can we forget so much so quickly? My parents literally had toilet paper with George W. Bush's face on it. Don't you remember how you felt before you knew things could get worse?"
Pg 123: "The most annoying thing about my husband, Ahamefule, is that he is obsessed with microphones. To be clear, this is also one of the most charming things about him, one of the things I love the most, because that's what love does to you - it scrambles your compass, so that the idiosyncracies you hate with fire and fury become so fucking charming you just want to gobble that person up and then poop them into a baby's cradle and coo over them until the heavens fall into the sea. But that doesn't mean I don't know he's annoying! The thing is that Ahamefule doesn't just love microphones, he needs ME to care about microphones, too. Sometimes, if I ask for a kiss goodnight, he won't give it to me until I can name the three types of microphone, or answer a quiz question about acoustic foam. (Which I can't! We have not kissed in seven years!)
Ninety percent of the time, if I am talking about something important, such as world hunger or myself, he is not listening because he's on Microphone Grindr thinking about getting matching towels that say HIS and HERTZ to share with a six-foot XLR cable, his real wife. (A case study: When I texted Ahamefule to get permission to make fun of his microphone addiction in this book so that we can send our children to college, he wrote back, 'Of course. If you showed me a photo of you in a recording booth but your nose was replaced by a nutsack, I would definitely notice the type of microphone first.' A pause, then another text: 'But you have to understand the significance of vibrations that occurred in the air at one point in time being preserved for all time. It is a miraculous human achievement.' Pause. 'It really is.' Pause. "A microphone is one of the most beautiful things in the world.')"
Oh man, did I identify with this. HARD. My husband doesn't limit his enthusiasm to microphones though. His passions shift, and whatever the thing of the week is, I will likely hear about it 58242 times a week but tune them out for the sake of our marriage. And my sanity. Not in that order. He has recently been in a sound equipment zone though - and has a basement AND garage AND office full of said sound equipment that he will "rediscover" upon seeing something cool that inspires him, and we'll be off again.
He's in a coin collecting fever now. My dining room table is currently covered in stacks of sorted state quarters by design, so that he can go through them looking for valuable ones. This is only the beginning stage. Eagle quarters and all other coins he's been collecting for however long are still unsorted. Wish me luck, people. I may never see the top of my table again.
Pg. 196: "Here's an idea: maybe instead of trying to troubleshoot the Nazi factory inside a clown's asshole, we just let it go."
Yeah.
I loved this book. I loved the commentary, the humor, the relevance. I know that some of the quotes that I posted here are kind of contextless curiosities, but I assure you that they are part of a greater whole that matters and makes sense and inspires hope that maybe the world is not as entirely fucked as it feels right now. If we try. And Lindy inspires me to try. I said it before and I'll say it again. I want to be her when I grow up. (Even though she's only 6 months older than me.)
I feel that I have been fangirling fucking HARD, so in the spirit of fair criticism, I did find a typo.
Read this book. It's worth it. It's important. And it's damn good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go broom shopping. :)
Her previous book was political, in a 'this is how the world being the way it is has affected and shaped me' kind of way. THIS book is political in a far more direct and searing way, and I needed it right now. I needed the irreverent, scathing criticism, the demand for people get off their asses and actually CARE about something, the direct counter to the "everything is the same, and both sides suck" apathy so many people have lately.
As I read this book, I jotted down quite a few notes and quotes in my phone (because I was reading a hardcover edition of this book from the library and there's no note-taking capabilities in these things no matter how many times you long-press the page #oldschool #likeacaveman!) and looking through them, I realize that there's no freaking way that I would be able to include even half of them in anything resembling a coherent review. (As if I wrote those.) But some of them are pure gold.
Pg 63: "Likability in a sexist, racist culture is not objective- it's compulsory femininity, the gender binary, invisible labor, whiteness, smallness, sweetness. It's letting them do it.*
If someone is universally likable, I don't trust that person. That's the opposite of politics. I don't want a candidate that the alt-right likes. I don't want to have anything in common with George Zimmerman. A person's standard of likability is a reflection of his beliefs, and unfortunately, in this country, a whole lot of people believe that Donald Trump is not a racist shart in an eight-foot tie who is unqualified for literally every job except "lie down."
So no, excuse me, we will not play likability anymore. It's an endless runner - a game with no progress and no finish line - that women are expected to chase, that keeps us from doing the real work, accruing the real power."
*This is a reference to Donald Trump's "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." comment.
Pg 114: "The Trump era has produced a insidious strain of political amnesia, leading otherwise rational left-wing people to feel warm things for George W. Bush because he paints pictures of kitties and shares his gumdrops with Michelle Obama and because a toilet demon is president now and a bungling, babbling warmonger seems like a gorgeous statesman by comparison. (Sheepish disclosure: I briefly fell for the cat paintings.) But how can we forget so much so quickly? My parents literally had toilet paper with George W. Bush's face on it. Don't you remember how you felt before you knew things could get worse?"
Pg 123: "The most annoying thing about my husband, Ahamefule, is that he is obsessed with microphones. To be clear, this is also one of the most charming things about him, one of the things I love the most, because that's what love does to you - it scrambles your compass, so that the idiosyncracies you hate with fire and fury become so fucking charming you just want to gobble that person up and then poop them into a baby's cradle and coo over them until the heavens fall into the sea. But that doesn't mean I don't know he's annoying! The thing is that Ahamefule doesn't just love microphones, he needs ME to care about microphones, too. Sometimes, if I ask for a kiss goodnight, he won't give it to me until I can name the three types of microphone, or answer a quiz question about acoustic foam. (Which I can't! We have not kissed in seven years!)
Ninety percent of the time, if I am talking about something important, such as world hunger or myself, he is not listening because he's on Microphone Grindr thinking about getting matching towels that say HIS and HERTZ to share with a six-foot XLR cable, his real wife. (A case study: When I texted Ahamefule to get permission to make fun of his microphone addiction in this book so that we can send our children to college, he wrote back, 'Of course. If you showed me a photo of you in a recording booth but your nose was replaced by a nutsack, I would definitely notice the type of microphone first.' A pause, then another text: 'But you have to understand the significance of vibrations that occurred in the air at one point in time being preserved for all time. It is a miraculous human achievement.' Pause. 'It really is.' Pause. "A microphone is one of the most beautiful things in the world.')"
Oh man, did I identify with this. HARD. My husband doesn't limit his enthusiasm to microphones though. His passions shift, and whatever the thing of the week is, I will likely hear about it 58242 times a week but tune them out for the sake of our marriage. And my sanity. Not in that order. He has recently been in a sound equipment zone though - and has a basement AND garage AND office full of said sound equipment that he will "rediscover" upon seeing something cool that inspires him, and we'll be off again.
He's in a coin collecting fever now. My dining room table is currently covered in stacks of sorted state quarters by design, so that he can go through them looking for valuable ones. This is only the beginning stage. Eagle quarters and all other coins he's been collecting for however long are still unsorted. Wish me luck, people. I may never see the top of my table again.
Pg. 196: "Here's an idea: maybe instead of trying to troubleshoot the Nazi factory inside a clown's asshole, we just let it go."
Yeah.
I loved this book. I loved the commentary, the humor, the relevance. I know that some of the quotes that I posted here are kind of contextless curiosities, but I assure you that they are part of a greater whole that matters and makes sense and inspires hope that maybe the world is not as entirely fucked as it feels right now. If we try. And Lindy inspires me to try. I said it before and I'll say it again. I want to be her when I grow up. (Even though she's only 6 months older than me.)
I feel that I have been fangirling fucking HARD, so in the spirit of fair criticism, I did find a typo.
Read this book. It's worth it. It's important. And it's damn good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go broom shopping. :)
August 3, 2021
West presents a collection of articles about social media and current events; the kind of confirmation bias stuff that usually attracts my attention on the internet, though there I tend to tune out halfway through a story. Lindy held my interest with every essay, so that's something.
In all, I preferred Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman - West may be one of the few people out there who's more interesting when she's talking about herself.
In all, I preferred Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman - West may be one of the few people out there who's more interesting when she's talking about herself.
October 17, 2019
4-4.5 stars: It hadn't really occurred to me before reading this book, but Lindy West is a critic uniquely suited to reflecting on our current cultural and political moment. Long before the madness of the 2016 election cycle, she built a career on dealing with and reflecting on internet trolls, and in this collection, she does a wonderful job connecting that cycle of bad-faith arguments and impotent rage to pop culture and politics as we currently see them. This book was full of beautifully distilled lines that captured a feeling or idea that I so often have grasped for in trying to make sense of the world around me-- and this book made me feel less alone and less crazy in that pursuit.
I will say this reads a little too much like a blog or online op-ed for my personal taste in essays of this kind, so that is what keeps it from being a full home run, but overall, if you're into the overall project of Lindy West and/or progressive cultural criticism, I think you'll like this.
I will say this reads a little too much like a blog or online op-ed for my personal taste in essays of this kind, so that is what keeps it from being a full home run, but overall, if you're into the overall project of Lindy West and/or progressive cultural criticism, I think you'll like this.
December 20, 2019
i'm speechless. this is one of the best non-fiction books i've ever read. i was able to connect to each essay, and because i listened to the audiobook which is narrated by the author herself, i could hear the emotions in her voice. i could hear her anger, her passion, i could hear how much she cares about everything she's telling us. the essay on global warming especially absolutely broke my heart, because it's so obvious how scared she is and it echoed my own fears.
know that when i say we need more intersectional feminist non-fiction books, i mean books like this one. this was phenomenal. definitely recommend the audiobook. (4.5)
“we’ve won this war before, and we will win it again.
tomorrow can be the first day.
the witches are coming, but not for your life. we’re coming for your lies. we’re coming for your legacy. we’re coming for our future.”
thank you libro.fm and hachette books for the audio listening copy
know that when i say we need more intersectional feminist non-fiction books, i mean books like this one. this was phenomenal. definitely recommend the audiobook. (4.5)
“we’ve won this war before, and we will win it again.
tomorrow can be the first day.
the witches are coming, but not for your life. we’re coming for your lies. we’re coming for your legacy. we’re coming for our future.”
thank you libro.fm and hachette books for the audio listening copy
Read
February 12, 2020Dnf at page 125. I'll just say this is not the book for me.
February 25, 2021
Lindy West is a wonder. Insightful, searing, funny, observant, wise. I find her to be a passionate advocate for change in American society and culture. In "The Witches are Coming", she touches on many of the things that I care about which of course makes her very compelling to me. She touches on Americas need to believe in lies and fantasies and that the desire to maintain some sort of fantasy is the root cause of a lot of what's wrong in America and why we can't fix it. West is a loud, articulate, clever and sometimes funny voice to a lot of our ails.
I thoroughly enjoyed her essays. The book is full of insight and collectible quotes. West is an intelligent voice in these turbulent times. There is not much depth here. This is an opinion piece; but a deftly strident, articulate and boisterous voice is welcome in my world. Not quite as intimate and affecting as Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, West still delivers and I remain an adoring fan!!
almost 4+ Stars
Listened to the audiobook. West narrated and she's great!!
I thoroughly enjoyed her essays. The book is full of insight and collectible quotes. West is an intelligent voice in these turbulent times. There is not much depth here. This is an opinion piece; but a deftly strident, articulate and boisterous voice is welcome in my world. Not quite as intimate and affecting as Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, West still delivers and I remain an adoring fan!!
almost 4+ Stars
Listened to the audiobook. West narrated and she's great!!
November 15, 2019
I'm quitting this book, something I rarely do. I can't even bring myself to hate-read the rest of the way. I tried the intro and six essays. It's awful. She laid out such an interesting premise in her intro (and in the book title) and then immediately lost it in favor of fake-woke criticisms of everything and everyone but herself. Is there a guilty pleasure you enjoy? She probably shat on it in one of these essays! And she's not even funny! No more West for me.
December 31, 2019
Parts of this were some of my favorite things she's written, but overall I did like Shrill better, and that's mostly in terms of pure personal enjoyment. This is definitely worth checking out, and her audiobook skills are still great.
Read
October 31, 2019It's weird to know you're going to recommend this book, even when you have reservations about it. Perhaps I've never really connected with West the way others have -- Shrill wasn't my favorite -- and perhaps I'm spoiled by having read and loved Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion which was far more challenging to me as a reader, feminist, and white woman in middle America.
Sure, this digs into today's political climate, but it does so in a way that explores entertainment that today's adults grew up with. Of course, I'm not surprised Adam Sandler movies are terrible (I went on a "date" once with a guy to see The Water Boy and didn't think it was funny then). I'm not surprised South Park is terrible. How this all connects to our current social climate isn't surprising.
What did surprise me was that there wasn't a through line here. That through line? The internet, blogs, social media, etc. We didn't have the means to talk about these things in a hyperconnected way when we were younger. We (and when I say "we" here, I mean cis white people) didn't have the language to tear these things apart and we didn't have tools and means to become witches to torch it down. Why look back at them now and try to take inventory? It didn't quite make sense to me, given that there's more than enough to sink teeth into now.
It's not bad in any way. I just think I'm at a different place in my thinking and activism and need for making the world better than West is. And that's okay! Plenty of readers will love this, and I'm going to let them enjoy it. But for me? I'm going to be waiting for the next Jia Tolentino book, as opposed to the next West title.
Sure, this digs into today's political climate, but it does so in a way that explores entertainment that today's adults grew up with. Of course, I'm not surprised Adam Sandler movies are terrible (I went on a "date" once with a guy to see The Water Boy and didn't think it was funny then). I'm not surprised South Park is terrible. How this all connects to our current social climate isn't surprising.
What did surprise me was that there wasn't a through line here. That through line? The internet, blogs, social media, etc. We didn't have the means to talk about these things in a hyperconnected way when we were younger. We (and when I say "we" here, I mean cis white people) didn't have the language to tear these things apart and we didn't have tools and means to become witches to torch it down. Why look back at them now and try to take inventory? It didn't quite make sense to me, given that there's more than enough to sink teeth into now.
It's not bad in any way. I just think I'm at a different place in my thinking and activism and need for making the world better than West is. And that's okay! Plenty of readers will love this, and I'm going to let them enjoy it. But for me? I'm going to be waiting for the next Jia Tolentino book, as opposed to the next West title.
February 15, 2020
I agree with most of what was being said but I didn’t read much. Didn’t seem like new ideas or concepts, and she lost me at the Ted Bundy thing.
My issue was her insistence that Bundy was not charming, and bragged about how she was a serial killer fan since Wikipedia’s inception of the serial killer list and that anyone joining the fad fan club came from 2016? And didn’t know as well as she does.
Ok?....
the Bundy thing irks me a lot. She never met him, and the people insisting that Bundy was not charming or attractive are speaking in hindsight. They are ignoring and discrediting the victims and people who actually knew Bundy. She made statements that he was mediocre and not liked which is the opposite of what people reported at the time of the killings.
You don’t have to find him attractive... your opinion doesn’t mean anything
I lost interest after this point. I didn’t want to read someone’s opinions about the state of affairs today when I don’t know who she is and I have these conversations regularly anyway.
My issue was her insistence that Bundy was not charming, and bragged about how she was a serial killer fan since Wikipedia’s inception of the serial killer list and that anyone joining the fad fan club came from 2016? And didn’t know as well as she does.
Ok?....
the Bundy thing irks me a lot. She never met him, and the people insisting that Bundy was not charming or attractive are speaking in hindsight. They are ignoring and discrediting the victims and people who actually knew Bundy. She made statements that he was mediocre and not liked which is the opposite of what people reported at the time of the killings.
You don’t have to find him attractive... your opinion doesn’t mean anything
I lost interest after this point. I didn’t want to read someone’s opinions about the state of affairs today when I don’t know who she is and I have these conversations regularly anyway.
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