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(Mostly) True Notes on Gossip
by Kelsey McKinney
A delightfully insightful exploration of our obsession with gossip that weaves together journalism, cultural criticism, and memoir, from the host of the massively popular Normal Gossip podcast.
Can you keep a secret? It's harder than it seems – after all, it's only human to thirst after the juicy updates, jaw-dropping stories, and idle chatter that we typically collect over drinks with friends. No one knows this better than Kelsey McKinney, who has always loved gossip wholeheartedly, with abandon, and sometimes to her own detriment. But the more time she spent collecting and sharing and thinking about stories as the host of the blockbuster Normal Gossip podcast, the more her concept of gossip began to expand.
In You Didn't Hear This From Me, McKinney explores the murkiness of everyday storytelling. Why do we think we're entitled to every detail of a celebrity's personal life? Why is gossip considered a sin and how can we use gossip for good? And how do we even define "gossip," anyway? But as she dishes on the art of eavesdropping and dives deep into how pop culture has changed the way we look at hearsay, McKinney also hopes to capture the heart of gossiping: how enchanting and fun it can be to lean over and whisper something a little salacious into your friend's ear. With wit and honesty, McKinney unmasks what we're actually searching for when we demand to know the truth – and how much the truth really matters in the first place.
"Sharp, incisive….McKinney provides meticulous research and offers some genuine insights in her attempt to elevate gossip to a worthy subject of study" ―Kirkus Reviews
"McKinney takes a thoughtful and sharply written look at gossip and its role in shaping power, safety, and truth. With a blend of research and anecdote, You Didn't Hear This From Me is a robust consideration of an often-maligned topic." ―Booklist
"I devoured this book like it was a series of 4-minute voice memos about someone Kelsey and I vaguely know. Her meditations gossip ― sometimes a powerful force for good, sometimes a sign of a diseased culture ― are, like the best gossip, so fun. RIP to the man killed by a walnut." ―Blythe Roberson, bestselling author of America the Beautiful? and How to Date Men When You Hate Men
"I tore through this like I was sprinting for gold at the Olympic games. I can't remember the last time I read a collection that made me wonder, deeply, about the bonds of friendship, social sciences, and the Real Housewives all in the span of a single page. True dynamite when it comes to examining the ways we yearn to yap while also remaining funny as hell; a remarkably potent combination. Nobody is cooler right now than Kelsey McKinney. This book stuns." ―Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things
This information about You Didn't Hear This From Me 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.
Kelsey McKinney is a reporter and writer who lives in Philadelphia. She is the host of Normal Gossip, as well as a co owner and features writer at Defector.com. She has worked as a staff writer at Deadspin, Fusion, and Vox, and her reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair and many others. Her first novel, God Spare the Girls, was published in the summer of 2021 by William Morrow.
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