Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. However, I read 40 pages of the eARC, and I finished the book in the final published form.

Robin Talley’s PULP is a very unique new novel with a refreshing perspective in young adult literature that highly gets into the idea of representation matters so much in books.

PULP is told over the course of two different years: 1955 and 2017. The two story lines are seamless.

In 2017, Abby is her senior year of high school at a magnet academy that requires her to do a senior thesis project. She has chosen to do hers in a class called Advanced Creative Writing that would require her to write a novel. Before her initial meeting with her adviser, Abby is hanging out with Linh, her best friend and ex-girlfriend, when she stumbles upon 1950s lesbian pulp fiction in her attempts to figure out an idea for the project. At the meeting with her adviser, Abby decides to bring up this new find, and she decides in the moment that she wants to write a book that inverts the tropes of the 1950s genre.

Meanwhile in 1955, Janet has stumbled on her first lesbian pulp fiction book, and she realizes for the first time that the feelings that she had been having about her friend actually have a name for them and that she’s not the only person to feel the way that she does. She writes the author and actually receives a letter back, and she begins to try to write her own lesbian pulp fiction novel. However, being in the 1950s, this is a dangerous time to even be a closeted lesbian let alone one that is actually out. Janet faces pressure from her friend Marie who she wishes could be her girlfriend to keep these feelings secret because Marie has landed a government job where they could fire you for immoral doings like being a lesbian. Janet’s father also works in politics, and this makes it dangerous for her family as well.

In 2017, Abby becomes obsessed with a pulp novel called Women of the Twilight Realm, and she becomes intensely focused on trying to find out the real identity of the author. Life around her is complicated. She is having trouble focusing on most of her school work, forgetting due dates, putting off applying to college, and letting this obsession come in the way of her friendships. She’s worried about her parents who never seem to be home and certainly not at the same time.

The two stories told here are fantastic. The historical perspective from the 1950s is obviously very heavily researched, but it never feels like a history book in any shape or form despite the very true facts around the time. The 2017 perspective also gives voice to the idea that even though your problems may seem small compared to the world’s problems, they are still very much real problems. We witness Abby begin to fall apart over small quiet moments that become large roaring problems in her life. Honestly, this was one of my favorite things about this novel because I feel like these days, it’s too common for people to neglect themselves because they think that their problems aren’t significant enough to need help in handling when the world sometimes seems like it’s on fire constantly.

This is definitely worthy of a read, and I highly recommend.

PULP by Robin Talley is out now.

This was such a good idea for a book, but it ended up trying to do way too much. Having two third-person storylines plus the writing from both of those girls got really cluttered at times and confusing. Abby's story could have been a bit less complicated too, I think. I hadn't read a Robin Talley book before, and I'm glad I read this one, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped I would.

Posted to Goodreads:I found this book very disappointing. The characters felt very flat and the story was slow and at times boring. I never felt connected to Abby or Janet and at no time did I care about them. The only part of the story that felt compeeling were the pulp fiction that Abby reads however those part were too sparse to save this novel for me.

This was a sweet book, although it fell flat in places for me.

I pick up a lot of G books, but I often find I neglect the LBT+ stories in my reading life. I was very excited to pick up this story of two queer female characters in very different times, and I was thankful for the pieces of queer history I got along the way.

The story of Janet Jones and being queer in 1955 was incredibly compelling. That fear of not knowing which step could be the wrong one that put you or your loved ones in danger was a reminder of how far we've come but also a reminder of how easy it could be to return if we don't ensure protections.

Abby's 2017 storyline was a bit of a struggle for me. First, I find most modern LGBT+ storylines a bit lacking, but I think a part of it is that I'm getting too old for the foibles of romance-centered YA. It did not help that a large part of Abby's storyline was her obsession with Janet's book, which made it feel like she did not get her due.

Oh, also, I loved the Danica Roem shoutout! Every book should show Danica Roem love.

One of the biggest trends I've been happy to see is more inclusion in the YA genre. Robin Talley has done a fantastic job of bringing great wlw stories to the forefront in an honest way (My Own Private Universe is included in one of our library teen booklists as well). I love a dual narrative in novels and love getting to see Abby's journey alongside Janet, and the fact that they both feel "seen" is so important in the current climate we live in.

*3.75 stars*

I was so excited when I approved for a Netgalley arc for this book! Robin Talley's work has been on my radar for a while now, and I even own a few of her books on my Kindle, but haven't had the time to read them yet.

Pulp is about two girls separated by decades. Abby lives in current day America, reeling from a recent break-up and the strange way both her parents and little brother are acting. She's supposed to be filling out college applications, but instead she finds herself immersed in the world of lesbian pulp fiction from the 1950's.

Janet Jones lives in 1955, in the time of McCarthyism and rampant homophobia. She too has recently discovered lesbian pulp novels, and wants desperately to write her own -- but she's afraid her secret (as both a lesbian and a budding writer of lesbian fiction) will get herself and those around her hurt and backlisted.

I think Talley did a FANTASTIC job with Janet's chapters, bringing the cultural attitudes of the 1950's to life, as well as the unbelievable restrictions on all young women's lives at the time. I don't know a lot about McCarthy's reign of terror, but I definitely want to read more about it after this novel.

I had a little more difficulty meshing with Abby. She's a bit more of a stereotypical YA character and sometimes I wanted to tell her to stop and calm down!! Her issues are definitely ones she needs to work through, but they seemed mild. In comparison, the stakes for Janet are very, very high.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This remarkable book pulls off the tricky feat of making us care about characters in two separate narratives, with neither one feeling like filler or killing time before returning to the important part of the story.

In <em>Pulp</em>, we follow a contemporary storyline about a high school senior, Abby, who is out and proud and very matter-of-fact about how diverse and free her world is. Most of her friends fall somewhere within the queer rainbow, gay, bi, non-binary, and various permutations of all sorts. And it's all good. Abby is part of a close-knit group of friends who delight in being politically active, attending rallies, fighting for justice, and making demands for society to be better than it is.

Abby's life is not perfect, though. She still pines for her ex-girlfriend Linh, she's stuck on her senior project, and her parents are doing a lousy job of hiding their inability to tolerate one another. She chooses the topic of her senior project at the last possible second, deciding to study lesbian pulp fiction of the 1950s and write her own version of these novels, inverting the tropes that were mandatory in the genre.

In the historical timeline, we meet Janet Jones, also a high school senior, whose life is highly regimented by her overly protective and rigid parents and their world of country clubs and social correctness. Janet stumbles across a lesbian pulp paperback, reads it, and realizes that these unnamed feelings of hers are actually shared by other people. She becomes desperate to connect with the author of one of these books, and at the same time, realizes that her feelings toward her best friend Marie are much more than just friendship.

The two narratives intersect in fascinating and unpredictable ways. Janet's storyline is the more upsetting of the two for much of the book, largely because the world it shows is so hostile and repressive. <em>Pulp</em> does an excellent job of showing the terror of being gay at a time when there were no legal protections or rights for anyone who dared step outside the bounds of "normal". Set during the Lavender Scare, this novel shows good, decent, hard-working people being hounded out of their families and jobs, spied upon, and having their lives ruined, all because of who they love and how they identify. Being closeted was a necessity, and the danger of discovery drove countless people to deny their own identities out of a desperation for survival.

Through Abby's eyes, the awfulness of the 1950s for the LGBTQ community is especially vivid, as Abby's modern perspective is challenged by her research into what others' lives once were like. Seeing Abby come to realize the importance of the brave people who created new ways to live, form a community, and remain true to the themselves is quite beautiful.

I was less invested in the love story aspects of both Abby and Janet's arcs, but very much loved getting to know them as people, to appreciate their challenges and strengths, and how each struggled in different ways and at different times to find themselves and to find a way to lead an authentic life.

<em>Pulp</em> is both a great novel and a great lesson on 20th century history. Reading about this chapter in LGBTQ history is moving and upsetting. The world has come so far, and there's still a long way to go, but I think especially for the target YA audience, <em>Pulp</em> provides a fascinating and important perspective on social action, diversity, and identity.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley to review! This book actually just came out yesterday (the 13th), so if you want to read it you can do so now.

I've read two other books by Talley - "Lies We Tell Ourselves" and "As I Descended", both of which I enjoyed - the former being my favorite of the two. I quite enjoyed "Pulp"! I was unaware of the history of lesbian pulp fiction of the 1950s, and I am always intrigued by little bits of history, which I think Talley does a very good job of incorporating. The story switches back and forth between 2017 and the 1950s (1955 specifically). This story did have its faults, but I do think that Talley's writing navigated the two storylines quite well, and was able to build up aspects of suspense, with twists that I saw coming a little bit, but that I did still enjoy.

3.75/5, rounded up.

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of PULP by Robin Talley in exchange for my honest review.***

2.5 STARS

Abby chooses 1950s lesbian pulp fiction as her senior project and learns how past, present and future intersect.

I love the premise of a protagonist learning about herself through history from last century. Closer in age to the 1950s story than the 2017, I’m more familiar with how far we’ve come than where a vision for the future, so I enjoyed the Abby’s aspirational vision. My default position is gratitude for advances. The shout-outs to history were my favorite parts. Teen readers who may only be aware of the differences in societal expectations academically may learn a lot through the 1950s portion of PULP.

Robin Talley’s writing was the weakest part of PULP. Her words never engaged me, as much as the plot interested me. I had to force myself to read and preserver through the pages. If PULP hadn’t been an ARC, I wouldn’t have finished.

Because I’m older than the target audience, I rated up to three stars. I do recommend PULP to young people and older readers with an interest in early lesbian fiction.

I got an ARC of this book.

I had an obsession with lesbian pulp novels in college. I may not have gotten as involved as Abby did about it, but I can see why she was so fascinated. The novels were one of the first times that gay people could see themselves in books. The censorship was unique in that there had to be a moral ending to right all the wrongs of the book, since being gay is this horrifying thing after all. It is perfectly ok to read hardcore homosexual erotica, as long as everyone dies. Obviously. 

The book follows four groups of people, despite the cover mentioning two. The cover mentions Abby and Janet. The other two groups are the characters in the books that Abby and Janet write over the course of the novel. I tend to like the dual narrative or past and present that leads to a big reveal near the end. My issue with the book is it is SUPER repetitive. There were four main lesbian romances going on. Abby is obsessed with one of them and with the author of the book. So even during Abby's sections those two stories are constantly brought up. Then during Janet's sections, there is again Janet and her book. The only story that doesn't get repetitive is Abby's book, that is clearly not as fleshed out as the others, but that makes sense because she is writing it as part of the novel.

Abby's plot itself was pretty meh. She is (not) dealing with the break-up with her first girlfriend, her parent's impending divorce, or applying to college. She is a super activist and she is all about what she does. She learns some gay history 101 through the book, which doesn't quite fit. If she is as super lesbian as she is portrayed and in a magnet school where she can study what she wants, how does she not know anything about Harvey Milk outside of there was a movie once? It just doesn't fit the teen activist lesbians I knew as a teen or the ones I know now. They tend to be a lot more informed that Abby was about the history, especially about the history of their own label. Though Abby makes a great point that a lot of what is presented tends to be white and male gayness. You have to dig down to find the queer and the people of color. This is addressed a bit more in Janet's story in such a wonderful way. I was impressed that race was tackled a bit considering Janet and Abby are both white and well off. 

Janet's plot is more what I want to read. It was more complex. She was dealing with first love without being able to talk about it or name it. She had nothing to help her navigate her world. She has that dramatic coming out and that dramatic story line that kept me captivated, even when she was talking about being a carhop. Her discovering pulp and her writing it was exactly what I was looking for. 

If this book had half the plots, then it would have been so much easier to get through and would have been less repetitive. If Abby and Janet were the only plots, ignoring the details of their books, it would have taken some away from Janet's story. But it would have made a totally different point of "look how drastically life has changed for queer people in such a short time. Learn your history, push forward". If it were just Janet's story, then I would have been in love. I didn't need Abby or her not dealing with her issues. I didn't care and her romance was just so annoying anyway. The book would have been a great historical fiction revolving around pulp novels and their important in queer history, total win. There were other ways this book could have gone, but the way it went was too bogged down in too many stories. It made it a little much for a YA. If this were an NA, then maybe. If Abby were in college and dealing with this and a bit more mature, I could totally have been all over it. It was just so close to being a book I could love. I did like it, but it was a little much at times. 

It did make me hunt down some pulp novels and find one that I didn't understand the first time I read it. I didn't know what pulp novels were at the time. So I can only hope that this book inspires others to give the genre a chance or to learn about it in the first place.

This book subverted many of my preconceived notions and exceeded my expectations. It's not that I expected something run of the mill or mediocre, but I didn't expect it to be as nuanced and complex as it was. I greatly enjoyed both narratives, the modern day Abby one and the 1950s Janet one, as both had their strengths and served as stark and powerful contrasts to each other. I do think that the Janet one was stronger, if only because the themes of the Lavender Scare, 1950s societal prejudice (towards homosexuality AND women both), and the complexities of family that converged to tell Janet's story. Abby's story had it's strong points as well, but sometimes to show the juxtaposition of society in 2017 vs society in 1955 things got a little spoon fed, as to the very important issues being addressed. Abby was also very realistic in the sense that she definitely acted like a teenager, and as such she was VERY hard to like sometimes. That's not really a criticism, but it did make her parts harder to get through when compared to Janet's. But both timelines and the overarching quasi-mystery of Marian Love were strong and enjoyable.

PULP is a very strong and well written story, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Pulp’s main draw is the parallels between the coming of age stories of two lesbian teens, more than half a century apart, and the juxtaposition of fights for civil liberties at that time and in the present. Abby lives in Washington DC and is a social justice warrior; for her Creative Writing project, she stumbles upon lesbian pulp fiction novels and gets interested in how to subvert their tropes for the modern era. Meanwhile, she also gets obsessed with the story from one particular author, Marion Love, and starts to wonder what life may have been like for a lesbian living during the Lavender Scare. On the historical side, we see Marion Love, AKA, Janet starting to discover lesbian fiction, and realizing her first love and coming to terms with what she wants for her future.

The book, through both their stories, explores the violation of civil rights – Janet’s is during the time when gay people were ostracized from working in government in particular, and being outed would spell the end of their career anywhere in the town. There is a pervasive sense of dread and fear underlying the later parts of Janet’s story, especially since her sort-of-girlfriend Marie is scared she will be found out. Janet’s earlier story parts are about her being conflicted with internalized homophobia, and the certain banishment from her family, as well as her heartbreaks. Through a couple of black lesbian characters, it also discusses the particular struggles queer POC faced during that time. Abby’s story discusses the civil rights violations of the current times – having a racist president, the immigration laws, the border wall, the fight for trans rights, and voter engagement. Her personal life development is about getting through her parents’ imploding relationship, her disillusionment of the future, the pressure of college (she is in her senior year) and realizations about love and relationships.

Pulp does justice to the stories of these two girls, and gives them realistic arcs, and discusses their life in the context of being gay, but also just being a teen at an age where you have to make big life decisions, where heartbreaks seem momentous, but you still have the hope of a life you love. It acknowledges, more than once, that their protagonists both being white, also are a little privileged while staying in its lane. Bisexuality, however, wasn’t discussed as much as I would have expected, especially in the past parts, and it was more of same-sex relationships only. It did feel like it was going around the same parts for Abby’s story as she continued being singularly obsessed over Marion Love’s story, while everyone else looked on with exasperation, and thus felt like it stagnated for the most part; Janet’s arc was more dynamic, exploring much more of the topic it wanted to. This is why I was finding it difficult to keep going during Abby’s parts: I ended up putting the book down often, which took this book longer to finish than it would have. Ultimately, I did feel Abby’s arc was not as well-written as Janet’s.

On the whole, it is a well-written book exploring the experiences of queer teens in both historical and contemporary aspects.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Two young women living in the nation's capital discover lesbian pulp fiction. Though their circumstances are quite different, they were both inspired by these books, which helped them gain a better understanding of themselves.

• Pro: Talley expertly navigated the dual timelines, and the results were very successful. She achieved suspense, tension, and great impact via the story structure.

• Pro: Abby's research grabbed me and kept me captivated. I wasn't completely clueless about the questionable things that went on during the 1950s, but I did learn quite a bit.

• Pro: I hung on every word of Janet's story. It was so important for me, that she found happiness, and I shed tears for her, when I read of all the injustices and heartbreak she had to endure.

• Con: That said, I did not feel as invested in Abby's part of the story. I felt like it wasn't focused, and I only seemed to care about her being successful with her research.

• Pro: Books within books don't always work for me, but Talley deftly wove three different pulp fiction tales into this story. The excerpts were perfect and perfectly placed for impact and meaning.

• Pro: There was something really awesome that happens at the end, which was nothing short of spectacular for me. I loved that Talley wrote the ending that way.

Overall: An interesting and well executed look at one woman's struggle with identity, which shed a lot of light on LGBTQ history.

It pains me to rate this so low, and infact I wasn't going to rate it at all, particularly because I thought this might be close to a four star read for the first hundred pages. But then there was another three hundred pages to get through..

The premise around this queer, mirrored storyline, that bounces between the fifties and present day, with two lesbian MCs, dealing with very different but also some very similar situations, sounded brilliant. Throw in some relevant topics, some gritty awful true-to-life events from our own recent past, and stories within stories about stories.. it should've been an easy thing to love. But the present day protagonist was a bit of a frustration, I got tired of the constant repetition (probably about a hundred pages could've been cut), and the only thing that kept me going was an unexpected plot twist slash mystery that I wanted to see through to the end.

Talley has a great hook and a great idea, and both are very well written, that I think just loses traction as it tries to include one too many conflicts or situations. The history was fascinating, and horrible, and I learned so much. I'm very thankful for that experience. I just wish I could've been educated and entertained, too.

I really loved all the different timelines in this! And it made me want to actually read classic sapphic pulp fiction. I felt like parts dragged on a little bit, and the start was hard for me to feel hooked, but I really loved what this story set out to do. And my little gay heart loved it so much!

I’m going to be perfectly honest and tell you right now that this review is going to be a mess, I’ve tried to write it so many times and I haven’t been able to capture how this book has made me feel but I’m running out of time and I need to finally do this so here we go.

This book broke my heart. And then it did it again. And again. And again. And I absolutely loved it. I don’t even think I can fully express how much I loved this book, it broke me but in the most beautiful way. I’m going to try and sum up why this book means so much to me but if I can’t get it across then please just know that I adored it, that it is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time and that this reading experience is something that I will treasure forever.

I loved the dual perspectives in this book, a lot of times when books switch perspectives every other chapter I have a favourite that I can’t wait to get back to but with this one I loved Janet and Abby equally, and their stories were so different and so valid and so well done. And the different time periods really highlighted the struggles that each girl was going through, and although they were completely different it really just showed how strong each girl was and I loved reading each chapter. It also gives you a good chance to take a break from one girls heartbreak to switch to the others, I wish I was kidding but it was actually a nice break to collect yourself before diving back in. The way both stories wove together was so well done as well. I really liked the fact that Janet’s story was focused on both her struggle with being a lesbian in the 1950’s and also her desire to become a writer, it gave the story depth and showed that it wasn’t all going to be another sad queer story. I also loved that Abby’s sexuality wasn’t an issue at all, her story really focused on her family life and her obsession with tracking down Marian Love but her liking girls was never brought up as being a problem for her. It made Janet’s story that much sadder, but also added the element of hope that I really think this book needed.

I just really really loved all the characters in here as well, with the exception of a couple that actually get mentioned, all the characters in here have very believable motives and personalities and it was really refreshing to read. Even the characters that you maybe didn’t like, I could still see and understand why they acted the way that they did. There’s also a whole variety of sexualities and ethnicities represented in here and it was just normal, you know, the way it should be. There was also characters in the 1950’s storyline that noticed and called themselves out for having a whitewashed view of the world.

I also really loved that you can tell how much time and research went into this book, the details from both the 1950’s storyline and from the modern one when talking about that time period seem really accurate and thoroughly thought out and researched.

I just loved this book. I’m sure that it’s not going to be for everyone, but for me it was a stunning book and even if we ignore the writing and the research and the amazing characters, it was just a really personal reading experience for me and because of that I find it hard to be objective. (Not that I should be, my review does mean my thoughts) I can’t say enough how much I loved this one and it’s definitely one that I want to read again because I know that it’s going to have the same emotional impact the second time as it did the first, and that alone should tell you how good it is. Read this book.

In 2017, Abby Zimet is struggling. Things are tough at home--her parents can barely stand to be in the same room together. Plus, Abby and her girlfriend, Linh, broke up in June. Abby thought it would only be temporary, but now school has started, and here they are: still friends, still broken up. Abby can't seem to concentrate on school or her senior project. That is until she discovers 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. In particular, a book called "Women of the Twilight Realm." Abby becomes obsessed with the author, who wrote under the name Marian Love. If Abby can somehow track down Marian, maybe life won't be so bad after all. Cut to 1955, where eighteen-year-old Janet Jones is in love with her best friend, Marie. It's a huge secret: one that could destroy their lives and that of their families. Marie is trying to get her security clearance with the State Department, after all. But when Janet finds a book at the bus station by an author called Dolores Wood, which features women falling in love with women, she starts to realize she isn't alone. And Janet, an aspiring writer, begins to wonder if there's more out there than the life that's always been planned for her.

"Janet had never understood, not until she turned the thin brown pages of Dolores Wood's novel, that other girls might feel the way she did. That a world existed outside the one she'd always known."

I loved this book so incredibly much that I can't even really explain it. It was captivating and beautiful and tragic and just appealed to me on so many levels. I have always been interested in lesbian pulp fiction since doing a project on it for a Queer Studies class in college, so it was so fascinating to read about Abby's research within the pages of this novel.

Talley effortlessly weaves so many narratives within this one that it sort of leaves you breathless at times. We have Abby's narrative, Janet's narrative, and then excerpts from the book by Marian Love that Abby grows to love so much, "Women of the Twilight Realm." The parallels are really striking between Abby and Janet, as each are discovering lesbian pulp fiction in their own era and using it to grow and learn about themselves.

Even more, we see how much things have changed between the 1950s and 2017. It's horrifying to see what Janet (and the entire gay community) had to endure, and the book really serves to educate on how terrible things were then. While I knew bits and pieces about the Lavender Scare, its ties to our actual characters here really brings it home. I have to say, I just adored Janet. She seems so incredibly real, and I just fell for her and her incredible strength and bravery. I think she will remain one of my favorite characters in lesbian fiction (and all fiction) for all time.

As for Abby, I really liked her too, although in some of her sections, I was more captivated by her research than her story. Still, she presents a poignant tale of a young bisexual trying to find herself, and I appreciated the diverse set of characters with whom she surrounds herself. Abby and her friends stand in stark contrast to Janet in their sexual freedoms, but, in many ways, they aren't so different at heart.

"That was the best part of being in love. The way it set the rest of the world on mute."

I just really really loved this book. It has so much of what I love--lesbians, diverse characters, passionate and realistic storylines, well-done research, literary references and ties. Reading Janet and Abby's stories took me back to a time when I wasn't yet out and when I had first come out--when the world wasn't yet so forgiving (not that it always is, but things were pretty different even 15+ years ago). I remember how much comfort books provided me, how wonderful it was to realize I wasn't alone in the world. I love how well this book shows that fact, and how the books-within-the book are almost their own characters.

Overall, I can't recommend this one enough. It's just a beautiful, well-written story, and, to top it off, it's informative to boot. The characters are lovely, the story is amazing, and it really leaves you feeling a bit awed. Highly recommend. 4.5+ stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 11/13/2018.

It is senior year and Abby must complete her senior project to graduate, but who can think about that when the love of your life broke up with you over the summer and now that she is back is flirting with you! Abby is running out of time to come up with an idea for her writing project, especially now that she has become obsessed with these lesbian pulp novels that were published in the 1950s, they are the only thing keeping her going. She becomes especially obsessed with one written by “Marian Love,” an author who disappeared off the face of the earth. Abby is determined to find out what happened to the author and along the way, write her own pulp story that flips the classic lesbian tropes on their heads.

Janet Jones is a teen during the 1950s, who finds herself falling for her best girl friend. It is an especially dangerous time to be gay, with the lavender scare taking place across the country. McCarthyism is still alive and strong, even though he has been ousted from the government. After Janet finds a taboo novel about lesbians, she begins to further explore her feelings through reading and writing. While she wants to embrace her sexuality, her friend may not and it may be just to dangerous to do such a thing.

I love Robin Talley’s historical fiction. I was not as drawn into the Abby narrative, but the Janet narrative was fascinating. In fact, I could have done with an entire book from her perspective. Talley highlights interesting events in the past and explores areas that are not typically talked about in mainstream history classes.

**Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of this book to read and critically review. Pulp hits bookstores on Nov. 13.**

If you want to grab my attention, write a book about lesbian pulp fiction, and write it well. Which is what this book does, mostly. At the very least, I left it entertained and much more intrigued by the subject matter than I even was before.

Pulp follows the stories of two young women in very different, yet somehow similar, eras. In 1955, Janet Jones is 18 years old and dealing with her complicated feelings toward her best friend Marie. She stumbles upon a lesbian pulp novel at a bus station and devours it in one sitting, realizing slowly that she’s not the only girl out there who likes other girls. After writing to the author, Dolores Wood, Janet becomes taken with the idea of writing her own novel and being free to love her friend openly one day. But under the suffocating control of her family, and with the Lavender Scare threatening Marie’s job, she realizes being herself and living out her dreams is harder than she ever would have believed.

Meanwhile, in 2017, 18-year-old Abby Zimet is dealing with the current political climate, her parents’ dissolving marriage, her brother’s moods, and her ex-girlfriend Linh’s seeming indifference toward her. Her grades are slipping, and she finds herself increasingly distracted by the pulp fiction she finds on the Internet. Soon, faced with the prospect of not being able to graduate high school, she haphazardly comes up with the idea of writing her own lesbian pulp novel for a grade, which turns into an all-out quest to find the author of her favorite novel, Daughters of the Twilight Realm (written by one Marian Love). The task becomes an obsession, and through it all Abby works through pining for Linh, dealing with her parents, and finally, figuring out exactly what she wants and needs most.

First of all, the book is so well-researched. I did some digging of my own and realized everything had its reference, even the current-day protagonist’s last name (Jaye Zimet is the author of a compilation of pulp fiction covers called Strange Sisters). The dedication Talley showed to the subject is admirable, as is the recreation of the 1950s. In fact, I think the flashbacks from Janet’s perspective may have been stronger than the present-day bits from Abby’s. Janet is a strong character overall — impulsive, curious, and determined to live her own life away from the oppression of her parents and grandmother. She’s definitely not perfect by any means — she is naive at times and fails to realize the consequences of her actions before she makes them — but I feel like she’s overall true to the personification of a teenage girl living in that time period.

So, too, is Abby, as she deals with everything she has on her plate while also diving headfirst into the world of Marian Love and lesbians in the ’50s. Abby is someone who doesn’t know how to deal with her problems yet, so she looks for escape wherever she can get it, almost single-mindedly and to the detriment of her relationships with her friends and family. Which is why she throws herself into writing her own pulp novel and finding out the secret of what happened to Ms. Love. That’s pretty much what a teen would do in this instance — hell, what any human being would do under that kind of pressure. Obviously, the problems she has aren’t as dire as Janet’s (though she is living in the new era of Trump), but they’re still enough to make anyone buckle.

Unfortunately, I wish we got a bit more development to the characters around Abby and Janet. Their love interests, Marie and Linh, have some characterization but not enough for me to wonder exactly what brought them together other than them just being there. Marie is a bit more worldly and reluctant to embrace her sexuality, while Linh is focused on school and her future, but that’s about as much as we get.

I do think Marie works a little bit better for Janet’s storyline because she’s obviously trying her best to fit in and not make waves. She’s a government employee at the height of the Lavender Scare, which was essentially a witch hunt targeting and purging gay and lesbian government employees. Less talked about than its Communist-minded sister, the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare actually affected more people in the long run. Marie is terrified of losing her job and dying to be normal, yet she cares for Janet in a way she can’t explain. The precarious relationship they share is heartbreaking to read about as a result.

Linh, meanwhile, is a bit flatter. She’s essentially looking ahead to her future while Abby is stuck in the past, hoping desperately to get back together with her. The result is a lot of disinterest in Abby’s new passion and a lot of nagging her to focus on looking at colleges and focusing on next year (which isn’t fun to read). I remember wanting to yell at her on multiple occasions, so the eventual resolution between them is a relief (to me at least).

As for the other characters in the mix, Abby’s friends are kind of just there to provide backdrop, though I do enjoy the range of identities they encompass — they provide a welcome contrast to the world of the 1950s, showing how far we’ve come in the 62 years since Janet’s time. Abby and Janet’s parents are pretty much on the periphery as well, though Janet’s grandmother provides some out-of-nowhere tension after happening upon Janet’s stash of literature. The Zimet family storyline could have stood with a bit more development too, as we don’t get a whole lot of sense as to what went wrong with the marriage until over halfway through the book.

As for plot, it’s pretty straightforward — Abby is trying her best to reclaim her life after everything falls apart, looking to the past in order to figure out her present situation. While the present-day theme of identities, protests and politics is a bit heavy-handed and may date the book, I understand why it’s there. Meanwhile, Janet in the past is forging ahead a new future, contributing to a world where Abby and her friends feel completely comfortable being themselves (or at least, more so). The act of connecting past and present makes for a really compelling read as you realize just how instrumental (even if flawed) these books were in contributing to LGBT pop culture. At the same time, there is some critique on the predominant whiteness of the books, as well as the fact that they overwhemingly contribute to the “gay tragedy” trope (one that Abby and Janet each looked to turn on its head). The ending is hopeful, but not what I expected going into this novel -- which may make it better.

Overall, I enjoyed Pulp quite a bit. It’s a quick, simply written, and entertaining read. There are definitely things I would change, but I at least hope those things were strengthened in the editing process. I’d definitely buy and read it again — and I can’t wait to do some of my own lesbian pulp fiction reading as well.

3.75/5 stars

Pulp is a dual-narrative book telling the story of Abby in 2017 and Janet in 1955. Both girls are lesbians and have discovered lesbian pulp novels that change their lives.

Abby lives in 2017 DC where it is acceptable to be out and proud. However, her girlfriend has just broken up with her and her family is falling apart. For a class project, Abby decides to research lesbian pulp novels from the 50s after finding one online by an author named Marian Love. From there, Abby becomes obsessed with finding Marian Love and discovering what her life was like.

Janet lives in 1955 DC where people are losing their jobs and being arrested for being gay. Janet and her long time friend Marie have just begun a romantic relationship. To complicate that even more, Maria works for the government. The two have to decide what is more important: their love for one another or their futures.

Pulp is an important novel. By using a dual narrative, Talley shows how lgtbq culture has changed over time, but also has stayed the same. She gives insight into what people in Janet's time went through to be themselves while juxtaposing it with Abby's present day story that shows the protest and unrest still going on.

This is a story about love, the future, and how each generation has to fight for something.