I had this checked out at my library for a little while. I was intimidated by it being nonfiction I thought it would be hard to read but as soon as I started I realized that was not the case. The narrative form with the quotes and everything mixed in made it very easy to read. I felt very inspired learning more in depth about the history of riot grrl. 

However, reading this at this stage in history was definitely a little weird since it was published in 2010 and so much worse stuff has happened since then like roe v wade being over turned. Also the last chapter or 2 really focused on the downfall and infighting which wasn’t as uplifting when I’m already reading it in a period of feeling really shitty about the state of revolution in our country. I definitely am grateful for those chapters though because it was helpful to see the ways Revolution burn out also correlate to the anger and angst of being a young adult. I just don’t know how to continue to interact with Revolution in a concrete way as I get older/at this time in history and this book wasn’t really meant to provide that anyways. 

The other thing that was difficult was just remembering all these peoples names. I wish there was more of an index with a short bio on each person (although I definitely liked in the end knowing what each of these people are doing now). 

Overall it was really great I’m glad I read it and I’m happy it was written!!! 

I’m no expert but this book does seem like a comprehensive overview of the riot grrl movement from its roots to the issues that caused it to fizzle out, with so many names and bands that I couldn’t keep up (but that’s mostly my fault because apparently my brain just glazes over names, especially at 1.5x speed).

It’s also, as the author intended, very inspiring to hear about women caring more about having a voice and using it than selling a finished product. I thought you had to be a child prodigy to play music professionally, so to hear about women just deciding to start a band and then learning how to play instruments was mind-blowing. Even if you’re approaching this book from a detached or cynical perspective, it’s definitely going to make you want to start a band or zine.

As an Olympia native, this was such an engaging read for me, and really helped me learn some local history! I'm surprised that Sleater-Kinney was hardly mentioned.