What has Finley really done for Feminisim other than perpetuate this idea of a molested angry female on the verge of tears? Just another semi-biographic book from a women that can only talk about herself and what men have done to her. If you want to feel sorry for yourself or hide it in fits of anger, read this book. She offers no solutions, and no resolution, because she ultimately cannot handle resolution. Without conflict and hate, shes a shell of a person and so is her writings.
I saw Karen Finley in Charleston SC years ago. I had no idea what to expect....I had never heard of her before. The tardy Ms. Finley entered the auditorium from the back, totally naked. I knew then that she was like no other person on earth. She yelled and screamed her stories, her anger , her pain....our pain....to the gods above. Through out the performance she gradually clothed herself until she ended the performance fully dressed. I was dumbfounded, changed...and I fully understood how her nudity was necessary to her art...to her connection with her audience. For years I search for information on this woman, hoping to see another performance....to again experience what I felt that night. Catharsis. I was thrilled when an internet search brought me here, to her memoirs. This book did not disappoint. It gave great insight into the life of this very strange, and gifted woman. Though everyone may not agree with her beliefs and politics, they have to admire her intelligence and strength. One suggestion Ms.Finley, get a website so people like myself can let you know how youve made a difference in their lives.R.Renn
forget what you think you know about karen finley, because unless youve actually been to one of her performances and/or read her essays, you dont know much. okay. so lets forget about the yams, the chocolate, the nudity, the naughty words and all of that. just for the space of this review, humor me. still with me? karen finley is amazing. she is the (unwilling) joan of arc of pop culture as we know it. she dared to deconstruct dysfunction, patriarchal power junkies, AIDS hysteria, sexism, homophobia....okay, you get the idea...and she tackled all these things, and so many more subjects, on a human level, on a confrontational level, with compassion and parody combined, with anger and love combined, espousing politically correct ideas in a very unpolitically correct voice during very PC times. while this book is not a "compilation", per se, it is a kind of experimental autobiography, with big chunks of finleys work interspersed throughout - sort of a show and tell exhibit in a book. it works. its immensely, addictively readable, and quite user-friendly for such a confrontational artist. the only frustration i had with this work was the ending, which frustrated and disappointed me, though the discouraging ending could easily be yet another performance art prank served finley style.....
