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Book Summary and Reviews of Opinions by Roxane Gay

Opinions by Roxane Gay

Opinions

A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business

by Roxane Gay

  • Published:
  • Oct 2023, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From beloved and bestselling author Roxane Gay, "a strikingly fresh cultural critic" (Washington Post) comes an exhilarating collection of her essays on culture, politics, and everything in between.

Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle big issues embroiling society—state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, women's rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy—alongside more individually personalized matters: can I tell my co-worker her perfume makes me sneeze? Is it acceptable to schedule a daily 8 am meeting? In her role as a New York Times opinion section contributor and the publication's "Work Friend" columnist, she reaches millions of readers with her wise voice and sharp insights.

Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay's best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years. Covering a wide range of topics—politics, feminism, the culture wars, civil rights, and much more—with an all-new introduction in which she reflects on the past decade in America, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Roxane Gay's devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"This is a must-read for not only fans of Gay's work, but for everyone interested in reading intellectual, accessible, and important takes on timely topics." —Booklist (starred review)

 "Gay's essays are brilliant and incisive... . Each piece on its own is worthy of attention. Taken collectively, this title is not to be missed."  —Library Journal (starred review)

"Essays, op-eds, and pop-culture pieces from the acclaimed novelist and memoirist... . [Gay] has a gift for clean, well-ordered prose, and strong feelings on matters of race, gender, and sexuality. Most important, she possesses a fearlessness essential to doing the job right; though she can observe an issue from various angles, she never wrings her hands or delivers milquetoast commentaries... . she comes to her opinions more out of empathy than ideology... . Fierce and informed riffs on current events and enduring challenges." —Kirkus Reviews

"This sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Roxane Gay's devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent." —USA Today

"Insightful, witty and accessible prose... . Gay has an ability to blend the personal and political in a way that feels simultaneously gentle and brutal... . For 1,400 or so words you look at a cultural moment through Gay's eyes and, by the end, you see the world differently." —The Guardian (UK)

"Gay made a name for herself with her pieces, which often turned conventional opinion writing on its head—decisive, funny takes that sat squarely in the space between logic and empathy, and eschewed conventional pundit wisdom. These pieces have been gathered in Opinions, and they showcase her work as a thinker, grappling with the questions of our time." —Harper's Bazaar

"Her opinions are not just indictments of the suffering people went through, but intimate conversations capable of uplifting the reader during any phase of their life." —The Harvard Crimson

This information about Opinions was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Roxane Gay Author Biography

Roxane Gay's writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects.

Link to Roxane Gay's Website

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  • Hunger jacket
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