This book is an amalgamation of poetry, prose and word scrapbook. For people who are looking for something beyond traditional poetry, this freeform work of thoughts and experiences will be appealing. I found myself feeling like I was entering into the thought process of a creative mind, eavesdropping on Jamie Hood’s secrets. Her work is bold, brave and vulnerable, disclosing things many wouldn’t have the courage to unravel. She compares the beginning of the creative process like foaling, making many comparisons to nature and the landscape of Brooklyn historically and lyrically, including allusions to the works of Plath and Moore. These types of thoughts are combined with everyday concerns about life, fear and love during the pandemic. Hood brings the reader a passionate taste of womanhood in Brooklyn even when the world stopped, life kept on doing its thing.

"How to Be a Good Girl" by Jamie Hood is a raw examination on what it takes to be a "Good Girl" in our society. Told in non-traditional verse, Hood is open and honest about her experiences and what it means to be a trans women in America. Forever chasing the love that was pictured in 1950's house wife propaganda "How to Be a Good Girl" really captured the yearning to be wanted. I felt so seen by Hood and her experiences, the way she peeled herself open, exposing everything to the world is admirable.

A lot of this is uncomfortable to read, but I think in a purposeful way. The author is setting this up to make us think and feel thinks through the words. I think that it's a little too free range and unstructured for my preference, but I can see the value in what's here. A lot of it tends to read more like a stream of thought than anything else.