Well-written true crime is a nonfiction writer’s holy grail. If you consider yourself a feminist (and we all should), Shrill is required reading. West has my undying admiration for her willingness to voice strong positions so eloquently. If you can read West’s chapter, “Slaying the Troll,” without your mouth hanging open in shocked disgust, I don’t want to know you. No one should have to battle assholes who impersonate dead fathers online to harass a writer.

How does one smart, funny woman bump up against so many hot-button topics–body image, misogyny, internet trolls, publishing, stand-up comedy, love–and become a word warrior? Reluctantly. West’s memoir has the feel of essays her chapters address big topics through her life (or her life through big topics, however you want to look at it). I went elsewhere for a copy and I’m glad I did. We should definitely have it but we don’t.” When I asked why, the clerk sighed wearily: “Yeah, everybody’s asking. On Day 4 of SXSW, I watched Aidy Bryant and Elizabeth Banks discuss their upcoming project for Hulu–six episodes of “Shrill.” Naturally, I rushed to the bookstore to purchase a copy only to find none. Shrill, a memoir by author and activist Lindy West, had been on my “must read” list since its publication (2016). Shrill provocatively dissects what it means to become self-aware the hard way, to go from wanting to be silent and invisible to earning a living defending the silenced in all caps.One of South by Southwest’s bigger fails came, of all places, in their book store. With inimitable good humor, vulnerability, and boundless charm, Lindy boldly shares how to survive in a world where not all stories are created equal and not all bodies are treated with equal respect, and how to weather hatred, loneliness, harassment, and loss-and walk away laughing. Coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible-like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you-writer and humorist Lindy West quickly discovered that she was anything but.įrom a painfully shy childhood in which she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her big body and even bigger opinions to her public war with stand-up comedians over rape jokes to her struggle to convince herself, and then the world, that fat people have value to her accidental activism and never-ending battle royale with Internet trolls, Lindy narrates her life with a blend of humor and pathos that manages to make a trip to the abortion clinic funny and wring tears out of a story about diarrhea.

Shrill novel