i love queer historical fiction and this is a book about lesbian pulp novels i'm so here for this

Just fabulous, a shining example of YA. More later! ( )

This is probably one of the best YA/Teen novels I’ve read in a long time. The story is told in two timelines, which allowed for the story of 1950s pulp to be put into context for a modern teen audience. However, I found myself losing interest in the 2017 characters, often wanting to get back to the 1955 timeline. It comes together in the end though, and I think I would have related more to it if I was in the _target demographic, so I can’t fault it. Also, I learned something new about the “In God We Trust” Bill, so it gets bonus points. I really want to read some more pulp lesbian authors now. ( )

3.5 ⭐ ( )

This dual-timeline YA novel switches between the perspectives of Abby, a high school senior in 2017, and Janet, an eighteen-year-old in 1955. In 1955, Janet and her friend Marie have fallen for each other. When Janet happens upon a lesbian pulp fiction novel, her whole outlook shifts when she realizes that there are others out there "like her," and she resolves to try her hand at writing her own novel. In 2017, Abby also learns about 1950s lesbian pulp fiction, and she (suddenly) decides to write one for her senior-year project.

Through the juxtaposition of the two time periods, the author provides a lot of historical context to LGBTQ+ rights, especially in Washington, DC (where both girls live)--I found it really interesting both to learn about the history of queer pulp fiction and to learn about the very real Lavender Scare that accompanied McCarthyism. I found the story pretty predictable, and I didn't love the writing (it felt a little forced and disjointed), but I think that the messages/history are worth it. ( )

Awesome look at the 1950’s and what it was like to grow up having to keep who you really were a secret. Janet, a teen in DC, discovers lesbian pulp fiction and begins writing her first manuscript just as her romance with best friend Marie begins to take off. But her writing may endanger them both. Told through the dual narratives of Janet and Abby, a teen growing up in 2017 who’s working on a school project and stumbles over the books by accident, we see the world through both their eyes.

Janet was admittedly my favorite. And I really liked the way Robin Talley developed relationships between both girls and the side characters. She populated an interesting world with complicated family histories and backstories, and this was a real treat to read.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
( )

It's probably close to a 3.75, but I just couldn't rate it as 3 here.

I’ve never read a book by this author before but from the first time I saw the blurb, I was so fascinated by this story. Even though it’s essentially YA, it didn’t feel like the romances that I usually read but I really wanted to know what it was all about. However, now I’m not sure how I feel about it. I didn’t want to put it down once I started because I was really engaged in the mystery, but it also didn’t captivate me as much as I wanted it to.

In the current timeline, our main protagonist Abby is a high school senior trying to work on her project on 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. She has a lot of things going on in her life – she is still unable to deal with her breakup with Linh while trying to remain friends with her, her parents don’t spend even a minute together at home anymore, her younger brother is acting out and getting into trouble and she hates the competitive nature of applying for colleges. All she wants to do is escape all these problems of hers and when she discovers one particular lesbian romance novel from 1956, she becomes obsessed with the characters and decides that she needs to uncover the true identity of the author. This obsession literally takes over her life and while I understood her struggle with being helpless about her home or love life, it did make her slightly petulant and very neglectful about her studies. I could feel for her desperation to keep things okay, but it also made me slightly unsympathetic towards her because of the way she went about it all.

The timeline in 1955 follows Janet, the author of Abby’s new favorite novel and this was a very compelling look into the times. The wonder when Janet first discovers a lesbian novel herself (or even sees the word lesbian for the first time) or when she realizes that there are other people like her out in the world is captured beautifully. She can be a bit impulsive and sometimes even naive, probably due to her sheltered upbringing, but once she gets to know more about herself or others like her, she decides on her path forward and never wavers from her convictions. She is quite brave in that she wants to live a life being true to herself despite the whole world telling her that it is wrong and I was amazed at her strength in such a young age. Her story is definitely what kept me going with this book.

The writing is good but not enough to keep me engaged throughout. I preferred the 50s timeline because Janet was a much more intriguing protagonist and the stakes felt quite high in her narrative. Even when Abby is trying to find the mystery behind “Marian Love”, I wanted her to solve it as much as she did, but the way her character is written made the journey less enjoyable for me. There is also not a lot that happens for more than half of the book, but the last 25-30% is very exciting when the two timelines converge and definitely what makes the book a memorable read.

The amount of research that the author must have done also shows in every page and this was one of the most informative fiction books I’ve read in recent times. We get some great insight into the queer culture of the 50s, about the Lavender scare when scores of LGBT people were discriminated against and fired from their jobs for being immoral and subversive, and about the small communities that they still managed to form to support each other despite the whole world being against them. The two timelines also give us a picture about how far we have come in the fight for equality and how much more we have to do. I especially liked that Abby and her friends have the acceptance from their families which Janet never had, but how this also makes them more politically aware and engage in activism themselves.

This book may not hit the mark all the way through but I still think it’s an important read and I would recommend it to everyone. It’s also really an ode to the power of words and stories, and how the courage of authors to tell them can have an impact on so many others. ( )

mature (but still angsty) teen fiction, lesbian pulp fiction writers and fans.
I got to page 42 but had trouble caring about the characters, esp. the modern-day Abby (who couldn't manage to come up with a senior project topic because she was too preoccupied with her ex-girlfriend who wants to remain best friends). ( )

This review is posted on both my personal account and the account for Crossroads Public Library.

I like to consider myself vaguely well-versed in queer history, but honestly anything pre-Stonewall is not a time frame that I’m familiar with. I had no idea lesbian pulp fiction was a thing, nor did I know anything about the Lavender Scare. Pulp was educational but it never felt boring. YA historical fiction does not circulate well at my library, but I think having it bounce between 2017 and 1955 will really help draw in more readers who wouldn’t normally pick up a historical book.

There were a few problems with it - Abby was kind of frustrating for me. I can be confrontational, so her running away from her problems was entirely foreign to me. And the conflict started to feel a little...convoluted(?) towards the end.

But all in all, I enjoyed it, and I think others interested in the topic will enjoy it as well. ( )

I’m not recommending this book for the writing, which is pretty standard YA fare even if it does some neat things with the parallel stories. I’m recommending it for the way it presents queer history and activism, and the discussion and learning possibilities it opens up. Possibly I would feel differently if I was a) a teenager b) American c) sapphic, so take my thoughts as you will.

I have likes and dislikes for both halves of the story. There’s some good realism about pressure on teens, broken marriages, becoming aware of one’s sexuality, discovering life-changing books, 1950s American politics and social conventions, personal growth… and slightly unbelievable naïvety and reactions, plot points and personal developments that almost come out of the blue, and some heavy-handedness about the history and activism, but that gets a pass. This is a book for teens, after all. Lack of subtlety is a thing and if it gets people asking questions, doing research, or protesting, who cares?

What takes this from “fine” to “good” is the theme of queer history and activism through time. (Abby’s and Janet’s halves actually feel a bit sculpted sometimes to support that theme.) There’s some really strong stuff about queer teens today not knowing where their freedoms came from, that their history began before Stonewall, and about the different struggles and forms that activism has taken over the years. Lots of stuff about the power of representation too, and a lot of hope for the future of equality, and that so much change for queer people has happening in a single lifetime. And I’m pretty impressed how much history Talley either works into the plot or tips her hat to. (And pleased by how many queer people were in the supporting cast.)

All in all, I enjoyed this but didn’t love it, even if I got kind of misty near the end which doesn’t usually happen. Definitely reccing it for the queer history stuff, like I said. I haven’t seen any other YA novels that tackle this stuff (heck, not sure I’ve seen a book cover this, period) and Talley has written a good introduction and dramatised it well. And yes, I will be getting a copy in at work.

Warnings: Janet’s story is necessarily full of homophobia, including but not limited to the Lavender Scare and McCarthyism. She is very unsafe throughout much of the book though never in physical danger. The “Tragically Dead Lesbian” makes an appearance but without much staying power. (There’s also some racism and period slurs.)

7/10 ( )

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review!

I have mixed feelings about this.

Firstly, I loved the premise: what's not to love about a dual narrative, with one focusing on a girl (Abby) discovering lesbian pulp fiction from the 1950s in modern times and the other following another girl (Janet) who actually lived in the 50s - and their stories maybe eventually tying together?

But here it already starts to get messy. The different stories the novel follows were too similar to actually keep straight (heh): Both Abby and Janet discover pulp, both of them become obsessed, both of them begin writing some of their own, the story the one writes is read by the other, they both also read another book that is the same - and excerpts from everyhing they're reading and writing is included, which makes it really hard to follow where we actually are and what is actually happening. The sheer number of different stories explored made it very difficult for me to get into the novel and then keep track of what was happening and I kept wondering what the actual point of the story was.

Another thing I did not enjoy is that a lot of the historical context necessary to make sense of why Janet (and the characters in the lesbian pulp) act the way they do is given in a sort of "history lesson" style instead of being woven organically into the narrative. One of our POV characters is actually living that life - we did not need to be explicitly told that information in the modern perspective again!

I also could not understand why Abby was acting the way she was - her actions made zero sense to me. Why did she even become obsessed with Marian Love? Why did she ignore her schoolwork? Did she actually want to college or not? It felt a little like she was lying to herself, but at the same time she wasn't. She lived in a bubble for so long, but that bubble was never really explored and then that bubble suddenly burst, but I can only guess what the moment was because it just was not given any proper screentime. All of a sudden, she just acted so mature and it was just strange.

But to round everything off on a more positive note, here are some things about Pulp that I did really like:

It was nice to see the lack of diversity in pulp fiction and the blatant racism of the time both acknowledged and challenged. Abby did this by attempting to invert the genres of the trope, while Janet met black lesbians and began recognizing and reflecting on racism and her own ignorance and privilege.

I also especially loved the portrayal of politically active teens that was Abby's circle of friends - it was so nice to see them actively standing up for what they believe in, and not just on the internet but also out in the world.

Overall, while there were significant parts I didn't understand the relevance of, the elements I liked I really loved and thought were very well done. ( )

I loved how the author, Robin Talley, worked historical names into the story. As another reviewer pointed out, it is three stories in one book. I read Pulp in the evenings before bed, so every now and then I had to re-read a few pages to remind myself of which characters belong to which storyline. I hope the historical fiction brings a greater understanding to a younger generation of what it was like to live when lesbian women and gay men were treated as mentally ill criminals.

Aside from overlooking some of the more annoying traits of the main character, Abby, it was a wonderful book and fun to read. As I mentioned I recognized a few of the names, I assume as homages to writers and bibliographers. I greatly appreciated the list of resources included at the end of the book. ( )

Robin Talley has created quite the unique book...or actually three books in one. Abby decided to do her senior project on lesbian pulp fiction of the 1950s. Part of the project is to ultimately write her own genre-defying pulp fiction novel. After reading Women of the Twilight Realm by Marion Love, she becomes obsessed with the book and its author and wants to meet Ms. Love. However, it is the sole novel written by Ms. Love and tracking her down is virtually impossible.

The stories in the book include Ms. Love's life, how she came to write the book in the 1950s and how society treated lesbians at that time, Abby's current life and loves and excerpts from both Abby's attempts at writing as well as excepts from Women of the Twilight Realm.

Through Women of the Twilight Realm, Ms. Talley has accurately captured the tone and life of the 1950s pulp novels and their characters. By way of impartiing a little history, she also talks of the Lavender Scare, which refers to a witch hunt and the mass firings of homosexuals in the 1950s from the United States government. Gay men and lesbians were said to be security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from government employment.

Pulp is a great read. I hope it gets the readership it deserves as a fun read, as an introduction to the pulp genre and as a history lesson. Good luck Robin. ( )