Book Review: “Everything’s Trash, But That’s Okay” by Phoebe Robinson
“Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay” by Phoebe Robinson (2018)
Genre: Non-fiction, Humor, Memoir
Page Length: 336 pages (hardcover edition)
Synopsis:
Wouldn’t it be great if life came with an instruction manual? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan’s house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she’s experienced in hopes that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own.
Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson’s latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society’s beauty standards to kick rocks; and demanding that toxic masculinity close its mouth and legs (enough with the manspreading already!), and get out of the way so true progress can happen.
Robinson also gets personal, exploring debt she has hidden from her parents, how dating is mainly a warmed-over bowl of hot mess, and maybe most importantly, meeting Bono not once, but twice. She’s struggled with being a woman with a political mind and a woman with an ever-changing jean size. She knows about trash not only because she sees it every day, but also because she’s seen about one hundred thousand hours of reality TV and zero hours of Schindler’s List.
Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay is a candid perspective for a generation that has had the rug pulled out from under it too many times to count, as well as an intimate conversation with a new best friend. (description from Goodreads)
Review:
This is Robinson’s follow-up book after her debut You Can’t Touch My Hair, which I was excited to hear about as I really enjoyed her previous book. The book is a collection of humorous, but serious discussions on race, gender, dating, and other timely topics in today’s society. These essays are in-depth and they will make you laugh, cringe, cry, and nod in agreement.
What I enjoyed most about reading this book is that Robinson does not shy away from being very open about topics that people skirt around. And the manner in which she opens up these discussions with sheer honesty is refreshing and interesting. Some of the essays topics include:
- Body Image: Robinson’s personal struggles with body image and how the clothing industry is biased against plus size women.
- Feminism: Touches on the Women’s March and MeToo movement. The lack of intersectionality when it comes to the voices of WoC and LGBTQIA feminists in discussion. Dismantling the fact there is no one “right way” to be a feminism.
- Great Moments in Her Life (non-trash): getting cast in her first movie, finally getting to meet Bono in real life (she’s a big U2 fan), and working on 2 Dope Queens.
Robinson is insightful, outspoken, very and down-to-earth in this book. Sometimes she makes you laugh and other times she sheds the harsh truth all while keeping it real throughout the whole book. This is a great book of essays that is thought provoking and entertaining. I highly recommend it!
Final Verdict:
