So, it’s time to embrace the cringe and confront our fears. Here’s a rundown of why people are absolutely trashing Girl Crush: For a seemingly sex-positive book, it’s FILLED with innuendos The hardest thing for me is to extrapolate who I would even be without the internet. Social media is my gateway to the world and to making connections with people. When it comes to the physical boundaries I have with my phone: it’s never in my bedroom, it’s always charging in the kitchen. And when it comes to what you share online, I always take a beat. Also, as someone who has gone viral on the internet many times myself, the statistics in this book are all wrong. Why does Eartha get sooooo many followers overnight in comparison to how many views and likes she gets on her video. It’s completely out of proportion and in reality, if anyone posted a sloppy drunken video being like “I hate men, I think I’m gay”, it would just be scrolled past. It isn’t inspirational, it’s normal, and wouldn’t garner anywhere near as much attention as Florence claims it would in this book. It’s sold in Tesco: women have come to my book events saying: “I’ve never considered myself a feminist. I bought your book because it looked pretty. And then I came out the other end of it saying no to my husband, growing out my armpit hair, telling him when I don’t want to have sex.” I want women who think that they haven’t got the education to be a feminist to talk about this stuff. It should not be gate-kept. Florence Given released her first fiction novel, Girl Crush, last week (9th August). And it’s safe to say she probably won’t be hailed as this generation’s Jacqueline Wilson anytime soon.

it’s like florence given looked up struggles of bisexual women and instead of portraying them with any kind of complexity she turned them into a caricature that had me (a bisexual woman who understands the source of the problems she was trying to portray here) rolling my eyes. like there is literally a scene in this book where the main character makes out with a man and some random girl bursts into the room, films her and then yells at her how she is a fake queer woman (the internet later on agrees with her and cancels eartha lmao) and then the next second the dude eartha made out with tells her that he thinks that women having sex with each other is hot but that he doesn’t want anything to do with her if she would date women and is disgusted by her bisexuality. i can tell that florence given really thought that she was a genius for touching upon three issues bisexual women face at one when, in reality, she only turned them into a joke by exaggerating this scene to no end. I know this is meant to be a story about a messy character, but you're given no reason at all to care about this selfish, awful woman from the start of the novel.I’m sure Florence would say that sentiments like these are exactly what she’s talking about in the overarching message of the book but like, I’m sorry, you had the makings of a book handed to you on a silver platter and you still managed to make it an unbearably frustrating (for all the wrong reasons) read. This book was a mess. On paper, it should have been really compelling. Using modern social media as a way to explore the Jekyll and Hyde themes of duality, public life vs. private life, and addiction while also talking about what it's like to come into bisexuality "later" in life, like on paper this should have been a great story. There are parts of this book that were so ridiculous that it made me angry (why had she never heard of an INCEL? I know that biphobia is a thing but why are people acting like it's so ALIEN?). The main character Eartha is in her mid 20s in 2030 and somehow a VOICE OF A GENERATION for drunkenly announcing that she is bisexual on social media (wow?). She's been friends with Rose (a non binary lesbian who has slept with every woman in the city) since high school. They didn't even need to come out as gay or non-binary because "the way they would recline into chairs with their legs wide open did that for them". I actually don't have words for how much I hate this line and how detrimental it is for non-binary people who aren't androgynous looking people who take up space like men so I'm just going to leave it there for you to reflect on. Ongoing Covid restrictions, reduced air and freight capacity, high volumes and winter weather conditions are all impacting transportation and local delivery across the globe.

I understand that some books include the above references to prove a point. To show that these words, phrases and stereotypes are wrong. This book has not done that. And for that I will never forgive it.Erst im Juni habe ich mein erstes Buch der Autorin gelesen, die dafür ja auch sehr gehyped wurde: "Frauen schulden dir gar nichts." "Girlcrush" wiederum hat online weniger Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. Das hängt wahrscheinlich unter anderem mit dem Genrewechsel zusammen, zumindest ist das meine Theorie. "Girlcrush" ist nämlich kein Sachbuch bzw. Ratgeber, sondern ein Roman. Und noch dazu nicht unbedingt der einfachste Roman, den ich je gelesen habe. Was jetzt für mich nicht unbedingt etwas Negatives ist, ist halt einfach nicht mehr für alle Menschen einfach so zugänglich. Spannend fand ich die Entscheidung des Verlags, hier tatsächlich alles strikt durchzugendern. Machte für mich auch voll Sinn und passte zu Eartha, aus deren Sicht wir die Geschichte erzählt bekamen. Es passte so gut, dass mir erst im Nachhinein auffiel, dass das nicht so im englischen Original stehen kann. Die meisten Bezeichnungen sind im Englischen auch so schon genderneutral (zumindest meines Wissens nach), deswegen muss während der Übersetzung diese Entscheidung gefallen sein. Wie gesagt, ich fand das super spannend. Und es machte mir auch Lust, mal das Original in die Hand zu nehmen, um zu sehen, wie das denn dort geschrieben wurde und ob mir dort überhaupt irgendwas auffällt. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.

In diesem Roman geht es um Eartha. Sie ist eine bisexuelle Künstlerin, wohnt in einer grottigen Wohnung und hat gerade ihren Freund rausgeschmissen, weil er sie mit einer anderen Frau betrogen hat und dieser Frau auch noch ihr Lieblingsshirt geschenkt hat, das sie selbst designt hat. Jetzt, wo er endlich weg ist (die Trennung war lange überfällig, da sind Eartha und ich uns einig) schafft Eartha es, sich endlich als bi zu outen - und ihr Outing geht viral. Ganz Wonderland (DIE Social-Media-Seite in Earthas Welt) hat dieses Video gesehen und plötzlich wird Eartha als die Stimme ihrer Generation gesehen. Alle kennen sie, alle lieben sie, alle beobachten sie. Und Eartha muss am eigenen Leib erfahren, wie schnell sich Liebe in Hass und positiver Zuspruch in einen Shitstorm verwandeln kann. Interessant finde ich auch den Wechsel zwischen den verschiedenen Stilarten, wie er hier stattfand. Manche Stellen sind wie ein normaler Roman geschrieben, manche wie ein Drehbuch, vieles auch in Form von Postings mit den entsprechenden Kommentaren oder Chatverläufe. Ich mochte das, ist aber sicher nicht für alle was. This is the perfect example of someone who is successful in one area believing that that success and skill will translate into others…… and it did not. It was also very affirming to read a book that had a non-binary character that didn't have a big moment where they have to profess their identity, The reader simply discovers that Rose uses they/them pronouns. Journalist Moya Lothian-McClean said: “I’m still thinking about Florence Given’s prose… Once again, publishers and editors involved in that… have a word with yourselves.” And I couldn’t have put it better myself, really. Related stories recommended by this writer:This was my first Florence Given book. And it was amazing. I absolutely loved it. Our main character Eartha is in an unhappy relationship with a guy. At the beginning of the book she's learning more and more about her sexuality. Her best friend Rose (aka a legend) helps and supports her and is hands down my favorite character in this book. However the main part of the book is centered around Wonderland. It's a fictional social media platform in the book which is a bit similar to insta (but not quite). For some reason Eartha goes viral on that platform and we follow her on this new journey. If you follow florence online, it just sounds like a fictional version of her life and friends and experiences - maybe it was a cathartic exercise for FG. Would have liked something more imaginative / completely new as a piece of fiction! This could have been intentional but I am not sure it worked for me. yes, i read the notorious livetweet thread instead of reading the actual book (if you can call it that) itself. i am absolutely fine with that. in fact, i think i could have gone my entire life without being aware of this book's existence and been fine with it. alas, i decided not to know peace.

So it's no surprise there's plenty of hype around her debut novel Girlcrush, published on the 9 August and set to be one of the best books of 2022. Girlcrush tells the story of Eartha, who embarks on a journey of sexual exploration as an openly bisexual woman who becomes embroiled in a dangerous online world. Florence Given won a legion of fans with her debut book, Women Don't Owe You Pretty, thanks to its unique illustrations and empowering message, encouraging women across the world, of all generations, to recognise their worth. Florence was handed the keys to the kingdom here and yet, this book was undoubtedly one of the worst things I’ve ever read. If Florence wasn’t Florence, this manuscript wouldn’t even have made it past the assistant’s desk at the publishing firm let alone onto bookshelves globally.Women Don’t Owe You Pretty was a concise, witty, compassionate guide to navigating feminism. Did it achieve what you wanted it to? In 2018, she launched a petition to cancel Netflix's controversial fat-shaming series 'Insatiable', it gained over 300,000 signatures in a matter of days. The story became global news and she appeared on many news networks across the US and UK, as well as being interviewed for various publications including Huffington Post and Grazia.