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56
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
45/100Critics
67/100Scholars
Author:
Melissa Faliveno
Publisher:
Topple Books
Date:
August 1, 2020
In eight essays, a Midwesterner explores her coming of age as a "tomboy," gender, gun culture, kink, and the intersections of identity and place.
What The Reviewers Say
... [Faliveno] explores gender and identity with the honesty and complexity of a person who has thought a lot about how complicated people are, including and especially herself.
She complicates and nuances this narrative [about conservative Midwesterners] in Tomboyland, whose essays are a love letter to, reckoning with, and examination of her midwestern upbringing ...Throughout her essays, Faliveno is constantly straddling just such blurry lines, never willing to let any of her topics lie comfortably still, always turning them over to look at another facet.
I immediately saw myself in Faliveno’s debut essay collection.
Faliveno’s debut essay collection Tomboyland makes visible a Midwest region that was considered 'flyover country' before the 2016 election and became subject to all manner of sweeping generalizations after it. Across eight essays, Faliveno expertly braids memories of her upbringing with interviews and research to render Wisconsin a living, breathing thing.
