I had really looked forward to this book. I am moving to LA in 8 months and am reading everything about it that I can. I actually couldn't even finish this book. It was poorly thought out and whoever edited it should go back to school. Throughout the book I kept asking myself, did she even think about what she was saying before she wrote this? The overall tone of this book was of a whiny woman seeking cultural acceptance who has a very limited story telling ability.
Here are just a few examples of why I would not recommend this book to anyone:
1) The writer was talking about watching a local beauty pageant and how she strongly disagrees with beauty pageants because that they anti-feminist. Then she says "But the young cajun women are so beautiful...I suppose it would be a waste if they all turned up their noses at pageants, however anachronistic and sexist the events may be."
Well, this struck me as a plainly stupid thing to say. A waste?! Why? Because then their beauty would not be objectified properly? Someone's feminist card just got revoked.
2) Discussing how nice some of her friends were, she told a story about how they were willing to lend her their only car so she could travel out of state to be with a sick relative. That is all fine and good, but then she writes "They were literally offering the shirt off their own back and wanted us to take it."
The couple was NOT 'literally' offering the shirt off their own back, they were LITERALLY offering to lend her a car. Come on, this is a mistake that a high school kid knows not to make.
3) She has a slightly creepy relationship with the neighborhood children. She styles herself as some sort of feminine Mr. Rogers, and all the children come and spend quality time with her in the "Clubhouse" a.k.a. her backyard shed. Strange? Yes. Further, though she professes some deep bond with this kids, she refers to one of them as a "snaggled-tooth girl" who she hopes is not another "street urchin." She is LITERALLY calling a little girl names.
4)This writer ended up at a cock fighting match. She describes how the roosters are fitted with steel knives on their legs, which they stab their opponent to death with. She then talks about how this is not as bad as the chicken people eat every day, because those chickens are shackled to a conveyor belt, stunned, and then have their heads put through a guillotine. This is apparently much worse then cock fighting because, this author argues, "at least gamecocks die a natural death." I am sorry, but how is being stabbed to death by another rooster with knives a "natural death"???
In sum, I do not recommend this book to anyone with a modicum of sense.
Here are just a few examples of why I would not recommend this book to anyone:
1) The writer was talking about watching a local beauty pageant and how she strongly disagrees with beauty pageants because that they anti-feminist. Then she says "But the young cajun women are so beautiful...I suppose it would be a waste if they all turned up their noses at pageants, however anachronistic and sexist the events may be."
Well, this struck me as a plainly stupid thing to say. A waste?! Why? Because then their beauty would not be objectified properly? Someone's feminist card just got revoked.
2) Discussing how nice some of her friends were, she told a story about how they were willing to lend her their only car so she could travel out of state to be with a sick relative. That is all fine and good, but then she writes "They were literally offering the shirt off their own back and wanted us to take it."
The couple was NOT 'literally' offering the shirt off their own back, they were LITERALLY offering to lend her a car. Come on, this is a mistake that a high school kid knows not to make.
3) She has a slightly creepy relationship with the neighborhood children. She styles herself as some sort of feminine Mr. Rogers, and all the children come and spend quality time with her in the "Clubhouse" a.k.a. her backyard shed. Strange? Yes. Further, though she professes some deep bond with this kids, she refers to one of them as a "snaggled-tooth girl" who she hopes is not another "street urchin." She is LITERALLY calling a little girl names.
4)This writer ended up at a cock fighting match. She describes how the roosters are fitted with steel knives on their legs, which they stab their opponent to death with. She then talks about how this is not as bad as the chicken people eat every day, because those chickens are shackled to a conveyor belt, stunned, and then have their heads put through a guillotine. This is apparently much worse then cock fighting because, this author argues, "at least gamecocks die a natural death." I am sorry, but how is being stabbed to death by another rooster with knives a "natural death"???
In sum, I do not recommend this book to anyone with a modicum of sense.
