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4.0
The Refrigerator Monologues
ByPublisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a ferocious riff on the women in superhero comics.
The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress.
In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.
The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress.
In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Refrigerator Monologues Reviews
4.0
BelievableDiverse representationMemorableMorally ambiguousMultilayeredOriginalRelatableStrong relationshipsAction-packedAddictiveClever plottingFast-pacedNonlinear narrativeSatisfying conclusionSteady pacingTwistyGrittyHarshSetting fits the storyVivid descriptionsDescriptiveEasy to readFunnyStraightforwardWittyChild lossMisogynySubstance abuseViolence
“This was a fun collection of stories taken from the world of comic book superheroes and the women they love and lose. While it's told like fiction, it speaks to a common theme in which women are used as the fodder for a story rather than having any agency in the story themselves. The common theme being that they die to make the hero go from local or mediocre to legendary. Loved the various voices, loved the spoof on some of the most popular stories that have gone from comics to theaters and action figures. Well read and well written.”
“Having read comics since I was a child this book hit in a personal way. It explores the stories of all the women who were collateral damage in men's plots.
Looking at the history of comics and all the other media based on it, it's lined with the corpses and broken bodies of the women in the lives of all the men who's story gets to be told.
Because we know all their names, Jean Grey, Harley Quin, Mera, and many many more. They are punished for becoming stronger, for questioning the actions of their boyfriends, for not going along with his plan, for existing.
It's nice to know that there's a place they've found support, love, and peace away from all that in Refrigerator Monologues.”About Catherynne M. Valente
Catherynne M. Valente is an acclaimed New York Times bestselling creator of over forty works of fantasy and science fiction, including the Fairyland novels and The Glass Town Game. She has been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and has won the Otherwise (formerly Tiptree), Hugo, and Andre Norton award. She lives on a small island off the coast of Maine with her partner, young son, and a shockingly large cat with most excellent tufts.
Other books by Catherynne M. Valente
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