Elizabeth R. (esjro) -
Helpful Score: 5
Very unique book, I have to admire the commitment by this author to her project. (Indeed one of the latter chapters addresses the toll the project took on the author). Although I enjoyed the book overall, I thought that it ran out of steam during the later chapters. However, I would still recommend it to women curious about what life is like in a man's world.
Vicki S. (VickiS) reviewed Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again on + 67 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Very interesting topic - worked great for our book group. Well written.
Brianna C. (rubyjewlcold) reviewed Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again on + 37 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a book where a woman goes undercover to discover what men are like in places where men are simply that, men. You may start the book by peering through a window but will end up looking at a mirror
Abbey R. (Abbey) reviewed Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again on + 31 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
this wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was a rather interesting book but I was expecting more of a different point of view. Still worth reading.
John O. (buzzby) -
No pictures, except the front cover. Apparently, it's harder to be a man than I thought.
Sophia C. reviewed Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again on + 289 more book reviews
Self-Made Man is a clever but inaccurate title for this book. Lesbian journalist Norah Vincent wasn't on a transgender or transvestite exploration; rather, like a Shakespearean heroine, she disguises herself as a man to see how the world would treat her as Ned. And write a book about it. Her observations over a year and a half are well organized in discrete chapters such as friendship, sex, love, life, work, and self.
Most women won't have a tepid response to Vincent's accounts of infiltrating a bowling league, a monastery, and a men's liberation support group, frequenting strip clubs, dating women, and selling door-to-door. Those who hate it would cite her obviously biased perspective as a white, middle class homosexual woman stepping into unrepresentative slices of male life, and the cliched conclusion that men and women alike are stifled by their gender roles. Those who like it will value the insight her disguise, which afforded the ability to observe men in male-only environments, offered her, hopefully with which the sexes might better understand each other.
What I found most interesting, however, was the psychological impact this experiment had on Vincent herself -- which leads to her next book, Voluntary Madness. I found her writing articulate enough that I will read the "sequel."
Most women won't have a tepid response to Vincent's accounts of infiltrating a bowling league, a monastery, and a men's liberation support group, frequenting strip clubs, dating women, and selling door-to-door. Those who hate it would cite her obviously biased perspective as a white, middle class homosexual woman stepping into unrepresentative slices of male life, and the cliched conclusion that men and women alike are stifled by their gender roles. Those who like it will value the insight her disguise, which afforded the ability to observe men in male-only environments, offered her, hopefully with which the sexes might better understand each other.
What I found most interesting, however, was the psychological impact this experiment had on Vincent herself -- which leads to her next book, Voluntary Madness. I found her writing articulate enough that I will read the "sequel."
Awesome!!!
Julie H. (pickeju) reviewed Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again on + 2 more book reviews
This book is a great raw account of Vincent's experiences living as a man. Her experiences were so varied along with the many different types of men she encountered. I feel like I was granted a window into the world of men and gained an understanding that every person is as different and unique as their experiences allow.
An absolutely worthwhile read.
An absolutely worthwhile read.
