on the shelf: dead girls by alice bolin

alice bolin's dead girls: essays on surviving an american obsession was happily crowned my 400th new read book on goodreads  like many millennials, i have a slight obsession with true crime and have plowed through every single episode of my favorite murder. so when this novel came across my radar, i immediately added it to my amazon cart and clicked "order."



the first 100 pages or so were utterly gripping and engaging. bolin takes a critical feminist lens to true crime-esque media (movies, books, articles, art, tv shows, etc.) and details how dead women are used as blank canvases for men to, essentially, dump their bullsh*t on. bullsh*t being hypermasculinity, inherent misogyny and disdain for sex workers, creepy sexualization of younger women, and perpetuation of man-as-victim. bolin's attunement to these things is incredible. in all honesty, i would read this book again and again for the first 100 pages alone.

however, instead of taking a look at the dead girl obsession across all areas, a majority of the book focuses on the author's move to los angeles, some notable book that have little to nothing to do with the dead girl obsession, and joan didion. a lot of joan didion.

overall, the author has a distinctly clear and engaging voice. her feminism is spot on and doesn't lean too left. the essays about book reviews, moves to california, and joan didion were actually really interesting and helped me add some books to my to-read list. if you're a true crime junkie like the rest of us, or have an interest in joan didion, i'd absolutely give dead girls by alison bolin a read.