Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC of Robin Talley's Pulp in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First, let me just say that I really enjoy Robin Talley. She is incredibly good at writing authentic YA characters. That was the biggest strength in this book: the characters were not always likable (something I fully support), but they acted like teenagers who were genuinely struggling to navigate the struggles of becoming adults.

First, a short summary: Abby lives in the present in a relatively average imploding family. Her parents are increasingly more absent and no longer get along and her brother acts out. In the midst of all this, she's trying to puzzle out her relationship with Linh, her ex-girlfriend. Janet is a teenager in the fifties. She has recently come to terms with her sexuality, but is struggling with the reality of McCarthyism, family pressure, and the desire to protect those she loves.

PROS:

Like I said, both protagonists are incredibly authentic. They have ideas about love that completely line up with everything we've all seen: they believe love should be able to make miracles, that first loves should be forever, and, of course, that real love always lasts forever. Abby often copes with her problems by delving into her phone, but it's not exaggerated or dumbed down. She dives into an obsession with a literary genre rather than being lumped in with this sort of composite teen who breathes social media. Janet is making her own path, but often finds it really hard to assert herself. Neither girl can find the words for their emotions because they don't know everything. They fumble and it's an amazing thing to read.

This book portrays the struggles of being queer in the 50s in a way that I've never witnessed. Talley's research was on point and she makes the 50s come alive. Not only was it fascinating to digress into my own google searches on Lesbian Pul Fiction while reading, but the sub-plot of Marie's struggles at work really showed a struggle that just hasn't been handled in depth.

The message is so good: love changes and that's okay because we change, too. Life is about developing, changing, and growing, and even if it hurts in the moment, it's often better than you could have imagined.Even with this great message and the focus on being social aware and all the positivity, there was never a moment when I felt like I was being preached at. It was never heavy handed, but totally natural and illustrated by the actions of the book's characters.

The characters were well developed. Yes, ultimately a large part of this book was a love story, but there was so much going on besides romance. Both Janet and Abby were working to become writers. They were both struggling with finding out what they wanted versus what they thought they wanted. They were politically active, aware, and plugged into the world around them.

CONs:

There were some typos and formatting issues, but I assume those will be handled before the release. That's literally it. This book is amazing.

https://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/

The book was amazing. It kept drawing my attention and making me do research into pulp fiction myself. It was so well written. I can’t wait to have a final edited copy in my possession.

Few books make me feel as giddy as I felt when I learned that Robin Talley penned a young adult novel set in the world of lesbian pulp fiction. Washington D.C. High School senior Abby Zimet struggles with a shaky home life, a complicated relationship with her ex-girl friend, and a nebulous future. When she stumbles across a lesbian pulp novel by Marian Love during research for a creative writing project, her thoughts become increasingly consumed by it and with finding the elusive woman behind the story. 

Tracking down an author, especially a writer of 1950s lesbian fiction, is a near impossible task. Abby learns this lesson quickly: not everything is available online, but human connections remain a powerful channel. If you were a queer female author, you cloaked your identity behind a pseudonym. You didn't want to be found. Pulp shares the impact of lesbian pulp novels within the context of their time. Queer people were hunted out of government jobs, blacklisted from future employment, and exiled from families they were born into. Authors like Ann Bannon, who later revealed her identity as a pulp writer, wrote their first novels from dens of crumbling heteronormative domesticity.  Patricia Highsmith published The Price of Salt under the name "Claire Morgan", so as not to derail her nascent mainstream writing career.

Told in parallel narratives, Pulp traces Janet Jones’ pivotal year in 1955 as a teenager in D.C., and Abby’s present-day travails and literary sleuthing. As the story builds, readers see more than just a chasm of differences between the modern teen’s openness with her family and friends as a lesbian, and Janet's furtive attempts at secrecy. Readers discover threads that not only connect the characters through time, but also reflects the continuity of history and social activism in our own lives. 

Robin Talley delivers an immersive and emotionally engaging novel that rewards repeat readers. Sprinkled throughout are Easter eggs for lesbian history enthusiasts and those eager to learn more about this period in our history. I believe that fiction can be a powerful draw in pulling readers of all ages into a deeper examination of historical events. Talley again creates a compelling story that intrigues and informs. I'll leave most of the trivia for you to discover when the book is released in November. Hint: Start with Abby Zimet's name.

Pulp, a historical fiction novel, was not only well written, but extensively researched- which made it fascinating to read-especially the stories within the story. There was so much going within this novel that you cannot help but become invested in the characters’ lives and their actions, both in the present and the past. I also loved how the students were encouraged to protests, along with teachers, to have their voices heard, just as many are doing now in terms of gun control.

I'm just as obsessed with this book as Abby is obsessed with Women of the Twilight Realm. Seriously. This was my MOST anticipated 2018 read, and I'm so lucky and grateful to have gotten the opportunity to read it before it's released. This book by far exceeded my expectations, and from the moment I laid my eyes on it's synopsis, the highest expectations had already been set in my mind. But this book turned out to be just as amazing as I imagined it would be.
This book is about queer women, 1950s Lesbian pulp fiction, and growth and mourning. There is so much more here than the synopsis would have you believe. This book is brimming with character development. I can't even describe just how much I loved this book, but I can certainly make an attempt.
We've got the main character, Abby, who's mourning the recent loss of her relationship with her "friend" Linh, as well as her unstable family dynamic and the clear tension and lack of presence of both of her parents. She one day discovers lesbian pulp fiction from the 1950s-1960s, and she is absolutely hooked on one book in particular, Women of the Twilight Realm by infamous author, Marian Love. Fuelled by so many other aspects of her life she cannot control, she begins an obsession with the book, and more importantly, with the author, who no amount of googling can dig up anything about. Marian Love has written nothing else since her first and only book, and Abby is determined to find out the real identity of Marian Love.
Meanwhile, we've got a dual point of view with another character, Janet, who is a queer 18 year old in 1955, a time in which was extremely dangerous to be homosexual. Janet, too, finds solace and comfort in a lesbian pulp fiction novel she'd found at a local bus station, a book that showcases to her that there are other women just like her, she feels less alone knowing there are other women that feel the way she does, women who write stories of characters similar to her for all to read. Under pseudonyms, of course. Which is how Janet determines that she wants to write to the author of her favourite book, to let her know just how much her book his impacted her. After getting a letter back from her, she is encouraged to write a book of her own. And so that's exactly what Janet begins to do, with her father's typewriter, alone in the attic during the late hours of the morning. And so this is how the story intertwines Janet's story, Marian Love, and Abby's, dual points of view written in 1955, and one in 2017.
The change of atmosphere between the two time periods is extremely present, we as readers get a look at just how drastically different it was living as a queer person in 1955 than it is in 2017. As usual, Robin Talley did her fair share of research for this novel, to bring a queer historical fiction to our eager hands once more. Thank you, Robin Talley, please never change.
This book is full of culture reference, and I loved the presence of other queer identities, and not just lesbianism. It is increasingly important to be sure other queer voices are heard over the abundance of lesbian and gay voices who have steamrolled over trans, bi identities and the like for years, especially now that the demand for more diversity in novels is increasing. And I can see that this is acknowledged in this book, which I cannot begin to appreciate more than I do.
The characters are a central part of this story, and every side character has a purpose and a personality, no character is out of place and barely any are not integral to the story overall, I really appreciated this. I liked that we were also treated to the trials of other characters besides Abby and Janet, and not only do the main characters go through changes and development throughout the story, but a lot of other characters do as well. (Except Janet's grandma, I'm not going to say I'm sad about how she ends up).
There was just… so much to learn in this book. We got so much ample knowledge. It is also obviously unfortunate to read about how it was to be gay in the 1950s, and the necessary steps in order to be able to write lesbian fiction, now I see where the killing off gay characters trope comes from! It used to be the only way to be able to produce media revolving around queer people, tragedy had to strike, and in most cases the characters had to die, as referred to as "necessary resolutions."
I like the way that love and loss is portrayed in this book. The big question seems to be if love is even real, and if it can survive. The theme explored throughout the book is mourning, and moving on. Change can be good, in some cases even life-saving. I love that most of the character development here revolves around changing life events, both characters have to deal with a life-shattering change of scenery, but both learn to grow and adapt towards it. I love the bigger, underlying message. This book was really enjoyable to read because of the many dynamics and themes explored, this book is so much more than what the synopsis entails.
This is by far one of the best sapphic books I've ever had the pleasure of reading in my life. I'm so beyond grateful our world has adapted and changed for the better, for the most part. But it is still interesting and enlightening to read about what it was like years ago, even more so in a fictional sense. Think of all those who came before us, the lesbian pulp novels that were only allowed to be published at the promise of tragedy, the various people risking their lives every day just to live as their true selves, and be increasingly grateful that we are now able to read books like these with little consequence.