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emjay24's review against another edition
3.0
Godspeed by lynn breedlove is a very san francisco book. Since I live here in sf, it automatically interested me. This book is about a drug addict bike messenger, set mainly here in sf, probably ten (15? 20?) or so years ago, although it doesn't give a time frame. Reading the book reminded me of when I went to see the sister spit thing when their tour came through. I think the factory she visited in providence was even the same one they talked about during their show. Anyway, I liked and didn't like this book… it was very sad. There are times in the book when jim has hit rock bottom. Covered in scabs, no home, no job, eating out of dumpsters… and yet has loving parents that live not too far away. There was a part in the book that stood out, where jim was describing how people got that way. First you do it to be brave, to feel the rush, ignoring the inner voices that are saying this is a bad idea (ew I cannot imagine putting acid in my eyeball ewww) and then you use more and keep moving into and out of crowds, as each crowd starts looking at you funny because you do too much and have gone too far. Until you're at the end. And we all know that happens to people all the time. Anyway, by the end of the book, she's in NYC, and it totally reminded me of Rent. And, no that's not really a spoiler. I think this is a pretty realistic, and pretty engrossing book, even if you keep shying away from it even as you read it. I definitely started caring about Jim and what happened to her. Will she stay clean? Will she live? Will she die? Will she get her love Ally? Stay tuned and read the book to find out.
tuc03229's review against another edition
2.0
I think i wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. Some of Lynn's prose is great, especially the parts about her falling in love with Ally, but the rest was pretty repetitive. Lots of fights, lots of bike messenger bro talk, lots of drug talk... all of which quickly starts to get boring. Also not sure what was up with the constant bringing up of her mother in a sexual context, but that got old really fast. Also, I haven't seen this mentioned in many reviews but there is A LOT of sexual assault in this book, both talked about and experienced, and there is a scene that I found really disturbing where the main character Jim goes down on an unconscious woman :(
gunstreet's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I’d read this in my 20s, because I spent the first half of the book wanting to scream “GROW UP!” at poor Jim. The book also skated over some really interesting action with only a paragraph or two, which I found frustrating. Still, I enjoyed it— a quick and raw novel featuring a band of misfit toys.
graniteanima's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tofuapathy's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
loridk's review against another edition
4.0
Not the best written book. Hard to follow at points. Sometimes it was just rambling and I didn't know who they were talking about or what was going on.
However, a great story. I really enjoyed it and read it in just over a day. I didn't want to put it down.
However, a great story. I really enjoyed it and read it in just over a day. I didn't want to put it down.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
3.0
Geez. What did I think of this book?
This is the filthy gutterpunk account of Jim, a speed freak, unemployable bike messenger, genderfucking dyke-ish person of indeterminate gender and sexuality from the Bay Area (of course) who is forced to choose between the love of her life (a stripper, of course) and drugs (of course). It's totally trashy, escapist literature. I wish I had read it on a plane or a beach in long stretches of time, instead of little bits of lunch breaks and bedtimes. It probably would have been more enjoyable if I could have sunk into the whole world of Jim & not been distracted by everything else in my life.
It's almost a love story, but not really. There is a lot of self-absorbed, redundant, pedantic addict rambling. Then Jim goes on tour as a roadie with a dyke/feminist rock band, ends up in NYC living in a squat and becomes a different person, basically. Jim throws all the personal growth of NYC away and returns to the West Coast and then the book ends. The first 3/4 of the book drags on and on, in that annoying way like... I mean, have you ever tried to have a conversation with a speed freak? It's like that for about 220 pages, and then there are some lovely moments in NYC where everything seems possible, there is a queer revolution bearing down imminently; rise up brothers and systers: the world seems bigger than the next little balloon of drugs. So, there's that quickly-fleeting relief of redemption and possibility, which is nice.
The characters are not especially likeable and the plot is not especially intriguing. It's very much like some Michelle Tea books I've read in a lot of ways: the way it's paced, subject matter (urban life, violence, family issues, drugs & pussy), relative apathy to whether the reader can differentiate between reality and drug-induced paranoia and hallucinations, etc. There are some really classic tropes of Extreme Dyke Lit in this book, and I wasn't sure if they were predictable, overwrought clichés or a postmodern intertextual reference to the predictable, overwrought clichés. I mean, it's Lynn Breedlove. It's impossible to be certain.
This is the filthy gutterpunk account of Jim, a speed freak, unemployable bike messenger, genderfucking dyke-ish person of indeterminate gender and sexuality from the Bay Area (of course) who is forced to choose between the love of her life (a stripper, of course) and drugs (of course). It's totally trashy, escapist literature. I wish I had read it on a plane or a beach in long stretches of time, instead of little bits of lunch breaks and bedtimes. It probably would have been more enjoyable if I could have sunk into the whole world of Jim & not been distracted by everything else in my life.
It's almost a love story, but not really. There is a lot of self-absorbed, redundant, pedantic addict rambling. Then Jim goes on tour as a roadie with a dyke/feminist rock band, ends up in NYC living in a squat and becomes a different person, basically. Jim throws all the personal growth of NYC away and returns to the West Coast and then the book ends. The first 3/4 of the book drags on and on, in that annoying way like... I mean, have you ever tried to have a conversation with a speed freak? It's like that for about 220 pages, and then there are some lovely moments in NYC where everything seems possible, there is a queer revolution bearing down imminently; rise up brothers and systers: the world seems bigger than the next little balloon of drugs. So, there's that quickly-fleeting relief of redemption and possibility, which is nice.
The characters are not especially likeable and the plot is not especially intriguing. It's very much like some Michelle Tea books I've read in a lot of ways: the way it's paced, subject matter (urban life, violence, family issues, drugs & pussy), relative apathy to whether the reader can differentiate between reality and drug-induced paranoia and hallucinations, etc. There are some really classic tropes of Extreme Dyke Lit in this book, and I wasn't sure if they were predictable, overwrought clichés or a postmodern intertextual reference to the predictable, overwrought clichés. I mean, it's Lynn Breedlove. It's impossible to be certain.
choirqueer's review against another edition
2.0
Okay most of the way through, some parts more compelling than others, but it really went off the rails at the end in a disconcerting and unsatisfying way.
meganmilks's review against another edition
3.0
like stone butch blues, this book is one i really really REALLY love on so many levels, but that is just not well crafted or constructed. wickedly strong narrative voice, crazy/interesting characters, a no-holds-barred look at a particular queer subculture, but: it reads disorganized and the pacing is effed up.
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