So many people so many different opinions so I am not going to give you a traditional review just some thoughts
I wonder if I am the only person who picked this up after watching Nico do an interview on television. I have been a fan of Nico since I first saw him on the TV Show Younger. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to start there You will get to see a depiction of Nico that in my opinion is extremely gender normative. Tortorella plays a character by the name of Josh – a charismatic tattoo artist with the best smile you’ve ever seen. Josh falls in love with Liza – a woman in her 40s who convinces everyone she is much younger in order to snag a job in publishing. And a lot of interesting plot points ensue. Writing this actually makes me want to watch the last season. Nevertheless, Tortorella makes this memoir very straight forward and tells the reader right off the bat that they are a work in progress and that made this a very honest read for me. I found parts of this book eye opening and some parts hard to wrap my head around but I do believe that was the point. They use their power from the public eye to bring more awareness to the different aspects of people equality. I know that many people found this a hard read. It really isn’t if you are willing to look at yourself through the lens it was written in.
I loved the aspects of breaking down gender binaries. While I identify myself as straight the way that Nico breaks down the aspects of love, being loved and loving are truly remarkable. I know that many people think that marriage and love should occur between a man and a woman, I think that everyone deserves love and they should be able to receive it in the best way they see fit. Call me too open minded if you will but, I have spent a good part of my life being looked at just for being different that I enjoy being unique in my opinions. Much of what Tortorella explores is related to social constructionist theory – the idea that meaning is created, assigned, and not just one absolute to be discovered. They approach this concept from both the perspective of how we internalize and create our own narratives of our life experiences, as well as how (often quite differently) those outside assign meaning to the ways in which they view us. There is quite more that they can do given that the money and status they acquire is far beyond our reach but this book was a great way to present some social differences so that those of us that want to be more aware can be more aware. Not saying in the slightest that this book is the be all end all for equality it isn’t. For me personally it was just a way of opening up that part of my literary self and wanting to read more on the topic. I have always said people should be treated as people and the way that this book is put together is the best presentation of Nico Tortorella thus far. I will be intrigued to find out what’s next.
