Cover Image: Grabbing Pussy

Grabbing Pussy

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Member Reviews

Do not expect appetizers. Writer, artist, performance artist Karen Finley never makes her audience wait for the meat. The main course. They are eager to be served and even shocked by what she serves. "Grabbing Pussy" could not have been delivered quite so incisively by anyone else.

. Finley's piercing insight on the incessant and disturbing themes, a relentless, political hell hole of the last four years, assure the reader she is still paying attention. More than her targets give her credit for, and she will not ease off the gas pedal as long as being a woman, being poor, and being sick are all treated as crimes.

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2.5 Stars ( I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

DNF at 28% I applaud the author for her creativity for this satiric essay's however it got to be to ridiculous for me to keep going. Each essay is based off of an event/quote made by the now POTUS such as the Billy Bush video, comments made about Rosie O' Donnell and Megan Kelly, to name a few. There was even a several pages dedicated to listing various name for a man's genitals, alphabetically and many in each letter. This is a little too much for me but again I give kudos to the author for writing this book

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I tried to pick this one up multiple times and could never get into it. I love reading books about feminism, women's issues, #MeToo--but could not get past the first few pages of Grabbing Pussy. I think perhaps this was better left as a performance piece.

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This was a strange book for me to read, but the messages imbedded within it are what make it a strong piece and helped me enjoy it more. This book should be read and discussed!

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<i>Grabbing Pussy</i> by Karen Finley was hard for me to read. Not because it wasn’t a good commentary, not because it wasn’t impressively written, and ironically not even because of the vulgarity. This book was hard for me to read because with every turn of the page it reminded me who the current President of the United States is. It was hard to read because, as it quoted the despicable and disgusting man currently living in the White House, I feared for my safety and the safety of others. It was hard to read because the man quoted has powers he should never have been given. It was hard to read because I felt my world imploding around me with every single word I read from the pages.

Finley does a pretty fantastic job of raging at the current situation, of using an art form to express her disgust with the current President, the administration, the people who voted for him, and the damage it causes us all. She does a pretty amazing job of instilling fear within myself as she responds to the terrifying words that have left Donald Trump’s mouth. And the funny thing is, without this book I’d still be afraid. I’d still have read and heard all the damning things that have come from this pathetic excuse for a human being. But the way Finley weaves her words is a reminder of the pain so many have been forced to go through since 2016 when the world realized this man was truly going to be in charge.

This book is pretty vulgar, though frankly I think criticizing it for such is a bit ridiculous considering the words that have left Donald Trump’s dung ridden mouth. But still, that is something to be aware of if you decide to pick up this collection. I appreciate Finley’s turning to her own art in order to adequately respond to the wretched and loathsome people of this country, from Donald Trump and his administration to the reprehensible dimwith who voted for him. I appreciated this book for what it is, but it definitely made me feel pretty awful about the state of the world and while the depression isn’t a direct relation to this collection of poetry, both it and this book are symptoms of the appalling state of this country.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

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I tried, but I failed. I failed to finish, I failed to force myself through this mess but my cat needs to be fed and that won....it is a real cat not an euphemism. I am forced to rate it using the star version, one forced star. #clickbait.

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I wanted to like this book, I really did. And for almost half of the book I did. I didn’t love it, but I liked the tone and the emotion in the pieces.

The second half of the book was what I would call poetic prose. And it really messed up the pacing of the collection. With the play on words and almost children’s book rhythm they were easily digestible but still got the point across and I found myself smiling and nodding a lot. But the second have with the pieces being several pages long almost seemed like rants. And that’s okay. I just feel like they would probably come across better as performance pieces. I actually ended up skimming a lot of them.

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I understand anger. I appreciate anger. But the anger and vulgarity of this book was too much for me. It felt like the vulgarity was used for the sake of sounding edgy, as opposed to sending a message. I really didn't enjoy this. I think it would be beneficial to consider an audiobook format, especially for the poems!

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Occasionally poignant, frequently funny, this selection of politically charged poetry will likely divide opinion with it's strong language and stream of consciousness delivery.

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I really, really, really did NOT like this book. It started off promising, but it absolutely did not catch my interest - although this book was a type of political discourse that I firmly agreed with because it discussed the horribleness of 45. Alas, the poetry felt like an unedited stream-of-consciousness, with pages dedicated to multiple nicknames in alphabetical order of male genitalia as well as pages dedicated to discussions of bowel movements.

I am giving this 2 stars because I read some of these poems as potential ideas for a play or musical. I just think that it needs to be condensed and edited!

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The messages conveyed and stressed by this collection were ones which immediately caught my attention but unfortunately, despite the many acute observations and the creativity involved, the language used made these poems a bit too much for me. I completely approve of using whatever language works best, especially when discussing such issues are included here. Protecting women's rights and challenging that which attempts to take them away or immediately resorts to patriarchal means to get what is wanted is something which merits strong language, however a selection of poems which were a bit clearer in message and easier to follow would have made this a better collection overall. I think there is a lot of this author still to explore and I would be interested to read more of her work, but this collection is one I might have to re-read in a few weeks time to process more thoroughly.

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This one wasn’t for me. It bounced between feeling like it’s trying too hard and not trying at all.

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Having loved Finley's The Expanded Unicorn Gratitude Mystery at La Mama in New York last summer, I greatly enjoyed this expansion of that piece, which spins on a dime from surreal comedy to fury.

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It is one of the very few books that has a title that would manage to catch, just about everybody's attention. While Karen Finley's tone throughout the collection is mostly anger, she has done so with a pinch of snarkiness and wit. But that is where my liking stops. Her choice of words is bound to make you cringe because of it's vulgarity. The peoms are powerful but quite difficult to follow especially towards the second half. Poetry as such is not preferred by a lot of readers, and when it becomes long and crude, it reduces the numbers even more.
I would however recommend it to those who have a particular interest in honest opinions about the American political situation of 2016. Otherwise, I would not recommend the book to other readers.

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Using Trump's quotes in this way is an interesting concept and does a great job of highlighting the vulgarity that was spewed during the 2016 election. However, personally it made me feel uncomfortable whilst reading and I can't think of anyone I could recommend it to. If you like extremely vulgar and crude slam poetry then give this a go but it was too vulgar for me.

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I thought that this was a mind opening set of poetry. I understand where she was coming from putting everything that is happening in our world especially in politics into words. She was angry and fighting for what she believed in. I will admit that it was a little hard for me to get into or follow. I think that if I had a physical copy of the book in the format that the poetry was supposed to be in that it would make more sense. However, it was really difficult to get the flow of it from the ebook.

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I'm sorry, but I just don't really get it. I am a liberal feminist so I thought this would be right up my alley, but it wasn't. I found it difficult to follow. I understand the harsh, jarring language, but it feel like it was edgy for the sake of being edgy. Perhaps if it were read out loud it would be stronger; in fact, I found myself wanting to read many of the poems aloud. This might be a stronger as an audio book.

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I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, some poems (especially in the first half) were incredibly powerful and voiced some of the thoughts I - and I'm sure a lot of people - have about certain politicians. Other poems were incredibly long and hard to understand and I wasn't sure if there was a point to them or if they should be this long and repetitive.
All in all, not a bad collection of poetry in an interesting style but also not one I'd necessarily recommend or read again.

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The problem with my review copy was that I couldn't tell if the formatting was off due to the ebook format. Sections were hard to read and even harder to comprehend. The material is understandable, but as a reader of feminist literature, I'm not entirely sure if this material adds to our overall conversation about Trump and his failures. I can't recommend this to the average reader.

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I really enjoyed the first half of this collection, full of power and anger and feminism. Then, the second half just felt rather rambling to me and I just didn't follow, which ruined my reading experience. Overall I feel like the collection read a little rushed? An interesting read but not sure if I would recommend.

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