Mean Myriam Gurba by Myriam Gurba 9781566895019, 1566895014 instant download after payment.

True crime, memoir, & ghost story, Mean is the bold & hilarious tale of Myriam Gurba’s coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity & caustic humour, Gurba takes on sexual violence, small towns, & race, turning what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, intoxicating, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, & homophobia deadly seriously. 

We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom & from those who would chop off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs & institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun & a second-wave feminist duty. Being rude to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being a bitch is more exhilarating . . . 

“Mean calls for a fat, fluorescent trigger warning start to finish—& I say this admiringly. Gurba likes the feel of radioactive substances on her bare hands.” —The New York Times 

“Gurba uses the tragedies, both small & large, she sees around her to illuminate the realities of systemic racism & misogyny, & the ways in which we can try to escape what society would like to tell us is our fate.” — Nylon 

“With its icy wit, edgy wedding of lyricism & prose, & unflinching look at personal & public demons, Gurba’s introspective memoir is brave & significant.” —  Kirkus Reviews