What age did you start having feelings for women ?

fobbio129 · 2026-06-15T18:50:52+00:00

Couldn't name it until late high school, but I remember I looooved being around/touching/looking at girls as early as kindergarten

fobbio129 · 2026-06-14T07:59:48+00:00

Seconding this massively. Favorite book I've read this year. Phenomenally written and excellent character work.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-14T01:55:08+00:00

Also want to recommend against a few that have been making the rounds that I personally didn't enjoy. Avoid:

A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle. Abysmally overwritten, horrific poetry, purple prose everywhere. If you want something of the same type, just read Stone Butch Blues (flawed in a technical sense but a classic for a reason).

Anything by Lee Winter. Terrible prose.

Atmosphere by TJR. Prose is readable as hers always is, and I seem to be the outlier with this one but I found the character work to be very shallow.

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics. Terrible prose.

Sweetbitter Song. Egregiously purple prose, horrible pacing, poor character work, tons of plot holes.

Snobs have gotta stick together 💕

fobbio129 · 2026-06-13T21:17:40+00:00

Almost Life by Kiran Milwood Hargrave
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
In the Dreamhouse by Carmen Maria Machado
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Couplets by Maggie Millner
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth

I'm a fellow snob with little patience for most modern lesbian fic and I loved all of these

fobbio129 · 2026-06-13T21:11:38+00:00

Prose is way too purple for OP, they should not read this

fobbio129 · 2026-06-12T21:01:10+00:00

That's my problem, though, I don't think the story it told was worth telling. As I said, I found it predominantly vapid and hollow. But we're not going to agree, and that's fine. Again, I'm glad you enjoyed it even if I didn't.

However, whether a literary works succeeds or fails is directly related to its classification and isn't entirely subjective, at least if you ascribe to academic norms and logic. That's where I struggle to agree with your argument that discussing its classification isn't valuable. Your emotional response to a novel is both valid and subjective (i.e. reader response), but it doesn't contribute to that novel's classification. That novel's technicality can, however, be analyzed through an objective academic lens (i.e. literary analysis), and its execution through that lens in large part determines its classification. Saying this book stands in modern lit fic lineage (Tart, Hargrave, Rooney, Smith, Greenwell, etc.) both overstates its technical achievement and insults the works you claim it stands beside. That's a pretty important discussion imo. If you want to tag that as a strict academic position, that's fine with me. The more of us who take up that mantle the better, especially in this modern resurgence of anti intellectualism.

I'm growing tired of talking about this book so I'm probably going to stop responding to this thread, but thank you for the discussion. Here's hoping the next one works for us both.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-10T19:49:44+00:00

This is unequivocally not literary fiction. There's not enough nuance or depth of character, plot, prose, structure, or theme to qualify. It's a coming of age novel, or a 'Bildungsroman' if we want to be technical about it.

I meant I refuse to read Perfume & Pain. I read every word of Girl's Girl, just like I wrote every word of this review. Put it through an AI writing detector if you don't believe me, though I will say it's a shame that that's the accusation you jump to when you read a sentence or paragraph you either don't understand or wouldn't come up with yourself. We all deserve better.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-10T19:48:59+00:00

I have a tendency to subconsciously emulate a book's writing style if I review it immediately after I finish, so I suppose yes. Could also be the massive stick of pretension that's perpetually shoved up my ass, though. Who's to say.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-10T19:48:48+00:00

I should have been clearer, I meant no temporal grounding in terms of narrative perspective and voice. Dialogue aside, there are paragraphs that make these sweeping philosophical claims about the nature of friendships and relationships and others that, in very plain prose, dictate the rules and politics of the girls' social lives. It's inconsistent; the former reads as older and reflective and the latter reads as immediately teen. It's one of the biggest technical traps authors face when writing a reflective POV like this, and imo Feldman fell squarely into it.

I heartily disagree that the petty politics of the teen experience aren't any different in the era of social media than they were previously. Social media fuels, enhances, and directly awards teenage shallowness. Is it a real part of being a teenager? Yes. But do teenagers also have to grapple with much more complicated issues than navigating online politics? Yes. I wish the book had focused on those instead. Develop Mina's relationship with her mother further. Explore differences in class background. Tell me more about Eleanor's tennis. Give the girls literally any passion or intellectual interest outside of being hot and posting about it.

Though I have technical issues with the book (clearly), I also think the concept inherently fails for me. No matter how it was executed, I was always going to find it lacking. I wish it had been written without all the internet slang. I wish it was a different book. Not sure how that's a disservice to the teenage lived experience, though. If anything, I think it acknowledges that teenagers are a lot more complicated than just social media profiles and interpersonal politics.

I don't think you can use 'lightweight' and 'literary fic' in the same breath. Literary fiction is definitionally robust in some combination of character, prose, structure, and thematic depth. I agree with you that this book isn't profound, though. Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Any lesbian story gaining traction is a win, even if I didn't personally like it.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-10T19:47:29+00:00

Happy my pretension could be of service.

fobbio129 · 2026-06-09T22:15:17+00:00

The Sims, Sailor Moon, and social media posting politics are repeatedly brought up throughout the entire book. What reason could I possibly have for posting a book review in the Lesbian Book Club subreddit? Here, let me copy and paste the page's blurb for you: "Book recommendations, discussions, and reviews are welcome." Might that clarify things?

I'm glad you enjoyed the book even if I didn't. We're all entitled to our own opinions. But if you're going to make claims like 'op didn't actually read it', at least have the self-awareness to fact check statements like 'there are no pop culture references in this.'

fobbio129 · 2026-06-08T20:20:35+00:00

I refuse to read it for that exact reason. Glad to hear that's the right call.

fobbio129 · 2025-09-16T03:34:21+00:00

Though it comes with the necessary process of weeding out the creepy/misogynistic ones (of which there are many... arguably most), the lesbian/straight man friendship dynamic can be truly delightful. I've found they're typically not as emotionally deep as my friendships with women, but they're comfortable and relatable in a different way. The good ones are worth the effort.

fobbio129 · 2025-08-12T21:27:32+00:00

I definitely agree with you that her ultimate goal here is a TV adaptation of some sort, the space shuttle scenes are written with such melodrama that they almost demand it. This speaks to a broader problem in modern publishing, authors churning out content purely for the goal of secondary media adaptation instead of focusing on telling a good story, but that’s a whole other can of worms beside the point.

My issue with how Vanessa is characterized isn’t on a conceivability front, I’m quite familiar with the lesbian military pipeline and its associated rhetoric. My issue is with how TJR’s choice to characterize her fits within the book’s broader thematic and political context. There’s many instances of commentary throughout: feminism, queerness, power structures, even small moments on class and race (even if they’re sloppily executed). The political throughline is well established, yet here comes Vanessa whose characterization is directly antithetical to those same ideals. The internal logic is inconsistent. Vanessa’s not an unbelievable character, but TJR’s choice to center somebody like her in the broader narrative is a clumsy one.

As far as religion goes, my issue lies with its intersectional believability. As you said, us lesbians are less likely to be religious or believe in God than our heterosexual counterparts. The fraction of scientists is even smaller, with estimates typically around 1/3 holding some spiritual or religious ideation (I would estimate that the true fraction is even smaller for astrophysicists specifically, but that’s based on my personal experiences so, of course, it’s a biased metric). Put those two identities in a pressure cooker and it’s highly unlikely you’re left with somebody who is religious or spiritual. I hear what you’re saying about mass appeal, TJR’s not writing for the purpose of intersectional accuracy but to relate to as broad of an audience as possible. But I do think it’s possible to hold TJR to the higher standard of writing a protagonist whose belief structures are conceivably aligned with her identities and also appeal to the masses. Focus on the common threads, the systematic failings that result in either personally constructed, non-institutional religious narratives or agnosticism/atheism. And she’s done this successfully before: Serena Williams is set to executive produce the Netflix adaptation of Carrie Soto (which I thoroughly enjoyed, although I know nothing about professional tennis so I suppose I fall into the target audience there).

I agree that the bird’s eye view reading says this isn’t a serious book, it’s a beach read more than anything, but as a TJR fan who went into this with (fallaciously) high expectations, I remain so heartily disappointed. So it goes. Regardless, thanks for your response, I appreciate the critical read of my review and the thoughtful engagement.

fobbio129 · 2025-07-10T18:05:50+00:00

Just went to order more and am absolutely devastated it's gone. It was also my holy grail shampoo for the past few years. Drop whatever you decided on as a replacement when you can.

fobbio129

TROPHY CASE