The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

My original review of this book got deleted 🙃 so let's try this again!⠀
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Most of the time, when I reach for a book, it's escapism. The Witches are Coming by Lindy West is...not that. It is a book about everything I've been reading to escape: Trump, the financial struggle of millennials, the frustration of feminists, the awareness that we are actively doing nothing to stop irreversible climate change. I wasn't prepared for how dark, how funny, and how achingly relevant much of what West had to say would feel. This is absolutely a polarizing read and certainly won't be for everyone, but I'm so glad that I picked it up. I found myself screengrabbing quotes on quotes on quotes as I read. Here are a few of my favorites:⠀
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•"Maybe the only thing to do, when you are one⠀
speck in an ungovernable community of nearly⠀
eight billion people on this planet, is to always⠀
keep an eye trained on the deep why of things:⠀
Why do I like this? Where is this impulse com-⠀
ing from? Am I telling the truth to myself about⠀
myself?"⠀
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•"The problem isn't that people have latent bi-⠀
ases that manifest in unexpected ways; it's that⠀
we, as a society, are fundamentally allergic to⠀
examining those biases and holding ourselves⠀
accountable."⠀
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•"We will not play likability⠀
anymore. It's an endless runner's game with⠀
no progress and no finish line-that women are⠀
expected to chase, that keeps us from doing the⠀
real work, accruing the real power. Chasing⠀
likability has been one of women's biggest⠀
setbacks, by design. I don't know that rejecting⠀
likability will get us anywhere, but I know that⠀
embracing it has gotten us nowhere."⠀
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•"Figuring out who you are is always a triangula-⠀
tion of what you know and what you see."⠀
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•"Art didn't invent oppressive gender roles, ra-⠀
cial stereotyping, or rape culture, but it reflects,⠀
polishes, and sells them back to us every mo-⠀
ment of our waking lives. We make art and it⠀
makes us, simultaneously. Shouldn't it follow,⠀
then, that we can change ourselves by changing⠀
what we make?”⠀
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•"We need to remember what a society is for."