Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of the amazing The Witches are Coming that I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

From her stint as a writer for Jezebel to her amazing book Shrill, I’ve been a fan of Lindy West. I was so excited when I saw that The Witches are Coming was available to request from NetGalley that I smashed that request button. Later that evening, when my request was approved, it’s possible that I squeaked in delight.

The Witches are Coming did not disappoint. With West’s sharp tongue and shrewd observation, I found myself in a constant state of underlining and nodding. With passages such as: “Art has no obligation to evolve, but it has a powerful incentive to do so. Art that is static, that captures a dead moment, is nothing. It is, at best, nostalgia; at worst, it can be a blight on our sense of who we are, a shame we pack away,” West sums up the battle currently being waged in America between those who long for a more compassionate, sensitive type of entertainment and those who want only to preserve, despite the lack of merit in doing so. Making no apologies for the truth she speaks, West is a soldier with her pen.

The best piece in this collection, I think, was “Joan,” a piece that really highlights the complexities of being a female entertainer. She points out the ways in which female entertainers are pitted against each other, although she adds that it is not as bad as it was when Joan Rivers was struggling to make her way to the top. No longer can there “only be one.”

This book is a must read for anyone interested in gender, intersectional feminism, or simply pop culture. Witty and clever, West doesn’t disappoint at entertaining.

5/5

https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/yay-feminist-is-coming-lindy-wests.html?m=1

Lindy West follows up her excellent book Shrill, which inspired a Hulu show of the same name, with an equally strong collection that examines and excoriates the current political and social climate - Trump and toxic masculinity, climate change, racism, privilege, and our popular culture’s messages.
She writes powerfully about the need to truly face the challenges we face and not merely hide behind the lies of those who want to exploit us. Highly recommended.

An extremely topical book. So topical in fact, I feel like in a year or two it will seem dated. However, I enjoyed her point of view and insight into everything from serial killers to Trump and how we ended up here. A wonderful feminist pop culture book that I look forward to encouraging friends to read.

The brillant Lindsay west cultural commentator in her own unique.Word of mouth on this book has been raves and they were all correct.I will be recommending this book to all my friends who I know will want to read discuss reread. # netgalley #hatchettebooks

Hell yeah, Lindy West. I absolutely love West's style; her writing works for me on a level I don't even know how to talk about. Here, let me try: West writes the way I think.

Anyway, I was not wrong to be jazzed for this (but now I'm sort of sad it's over and I won't get to read it when it comes out. Ah, the perils of librarianship.).

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Lindy West at her best–including her essay “Ted Bundy Was Not Charming–Are You High?”–and everything I needed to read, hear, digest, and think about right now.

This was goddamn incredible - a fantastic, funny, insightful <b>clapback</b> of a book. I sometimes incorporate my favorite quotes from a work in a review, but if I did that with <i>The Witches Are Coming</i>, 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. She discusses online harassment, portrayals of women and abortion in media, the privilege of wellness culture, and so much more.

But most importantly, 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 "f*ck 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 as the punchline to 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.)

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This is the freshest feminist pop-culture book I’ve read in a long thing- The genre basically died out into thousand and eight due to being overworked to death, but West’s book fills in a lot of the gap’s in a very considerate way that is also very entertaining. I’ve been reading 3rd/4th Wave feminist books for the past 25 years and I don’t see much that I haven’t read before, but this one was special and I recommend it to both young and old feminists who stillreally want to talk about Adam Carolla and South Park as threats to progressive thought in 2019