2.5 stars.
i just did not enjoy this story as much as i hoped.
It was sort of interesting, but it missed something to keep me into it.

This was the first book I ever got from Netgalley (I think it was a 'Read Now' title & I didn't think I'd be able to get approved for anything I requested yet, so I saw Rust Belt Femme was queer and decided to download it), and I very rarely DNF books, so I put off officially doing so with Rust Belt Femme for almost 2 years, but it's time.

To be clear, there wasn't anything wrong with the book, so I'm going to give it 5 stars here - I've just finally accepted that no matter how much I want to be a person that reads non-fiction, I'm just not.

Loved this memoir, about growing up poor and queer and femme in America's Rust Belt. I could relate to a lot of it and am really glad I got the chance to read it!

A wonderful exploration of grief, trauma and relationships, Rust Belt Femme was not an easy read for me. It took me a while to get through it, to digest all the emotions Jolie captured so well in her writing. I would definitely recommend this book if you're looking for an honest memoir, one in which the connection to home is captured so wonderfully.

Loved this! Beautiful writing, and a great soundtrack - the writer is so honest and feels like she could have gone into way more details about some things, but the lack of information doesn't make it less impactful. The smaller things she gives time to are so meaningful and I loved the stories about being a teenager and how hard LOVE feels when you're that age. I'd like a sequel about her further exploration of her queerness, but this was a lovely read that I finished in one afternoon.

An interesting glimpse into one life of a queer femme person, which could not have been Raechel's without all of the various influences experiences while growing up.

The anecdotes transport you to a different world, of Cleveland Ohio and a subculture which most of us have never experienced and will never experience in this way.

It carried the angst of wanting to be understood as a teenager just coming into themselves, and a young adult who does not know what to do, but wants to do something. To make a mark, to find community, outside of the narrow world one grows up in. Raechel is lucky to straddle multiple worlds and her experience reflects that straddling.

Rust Belt Femme is a great insight into how life has the tendency to kick you in the teeth when you're not expecting it and how a perspective can often warp into something utterly unpredictable. The author makes great observations about the world she lives in and this almost reads like Ozzie's biography in regards to the fact that Jolie doesn't hide or sugarcoat her experiences.

This biography is written in such a way that it could be mistaken for a YA novel, and I mean that as a compliment. The story of Raechel’s life is told in her own voice throughout, and she tells a great story of her childhood, adolescent years and path to her Phd.

Growing up in poverty in Ohio, and suffering trauma in ways no child or young person should, Jolie does not use the book to dwell upon her struggles, but instead writes of her journey to who she became focussing on positive outcomes and strength form experience.

Jolie creates a strong sense of nostalgia in the middle chapters, and although younger than me, her references to 90s fashion, makeup, alternative music and discovery of texts which shape adolescence truly struck a chord with me. Her depictions of flannel shirts, frosted lipgloss, Nirvana and riot grrrl will make many a middle-ager reflect with her.

At times the timeline jumps around a little, however this feels entirely organic - as if the author is telling you the story in person, and referring to events past or future in her life to illustrate points. I personally found the last 10% of the book to have the most impact. Here Jolie summarises her life and influences, and explains Femme and all the meaning that it has for herself, and for others who grew up in similar circumstances in the northern states. She comes across as an incredibly interesting woman, who did not allow her past to affect her ambition and success.

I enjoyed this book. I don’t always like reading memoirs, however in Rust Belt Femme the narrative flows from the outset, and captivated me enough to read the book in one sitting. And I LOVE the Rust Belt Femme mix tape chapter references.

4 big stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Belt Publishing, and Raechel Anne Jolie for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

Reviewing for the ARCi received from NetGalley

I enjoyed this memoir. As someone from Northeast Ohio, I am familiar with the areas in Cleveland that she mentions. The book should come with a trigger warning though, as she digs into her trauma and describes it. So I have to admit that I skipped over those parts, to avoid triggering myself.

However, it is a window into a life not far from where I grew up, just on a different trajectory, I recommend for queer collections but also for those who might want to understand rural white poverty and the women who come from it.

This short and snappy memoir had me captivated. Jolie's writing is precise and lyrical and her story deeply relatable to this fellow Midwestern lefty queer. I would highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Belt Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an e-ARC of this book through Netgalley and I’m so grateful I stumbled upon it. This was such a relatable, honest and fun read. Being from the Midwest (MI),Queer, a survivor of trauma and raised in poverty, I was able to relate to some of the authors experiences. Rachel’s story explores gender, sexuality, class and race in a way that is accessible to all readers. I enjoyed exploring her femme identity and her journey with and through trauma as it had a lasting impact on me. Maybe it’s also because I’m a queer femme and from the Midwest. For some this book May be a struggle as their is no chronological timeline. While she speaks of what shapes her into who she is, I feel as though what that actually looks like is missing . Nonetheless this is her story and what we received is what she felt was most important for us to know. Thank you to Raechel Anne Jolie for sharing your story with us .

A simply fantastic and inspiring book for women/young women. Very much enjoyed reading. Look forwards to seeing/hearing more from this author.

Rust Belt Femme by Raechel Anne Jolie is a poetically frank memoir that serves as a love letter to growth, an ode to femmes and poor folx doing their best, and a beautiful nostalgia trip for those of us with an ache for nineties and early aughts culture.

The story begins at the time of Jolie’s father’s brain injury from a hit-and-run accident and continues for nearly two decades. The brain injury complicates Jolie’s relationship with her dad who continues living with her at first, though eventually Jolie’s family unit shrinks to herself and her mom. This unit ebbs and flows in the way that struggling folks help others who are struggling, in the way that sometimes a friend needs a couch to crash on and you have a couch or a room and a daughter who needs watching. There is no glorification of the hardship—poverty, trauma, and the coming and going of significant others all have places in this telling—but the joy is equally there, because life is complicated like that. Because there is music and because there are radical friends and pockets of diverse community and kissing and DIY shows and “sex-just-because”.

What shines brightest in this novel is that the love and appreciation for even the most painful moments of learning. There is understanding that a first boyfriend “taught me an articulation of anti-capitalist politics and opened up a world of punk music that stirred the part of my gut that knew I had found what I needed. I wouldn’t have had”, even though this boyfriend was less than perfect. Jolie takes on her youth with eyes wide open with affection for the femmes and the poor folx who paved the way for her to find herself as well as for the younger version of herself who paved the way for her to become herself.

“We are not independent creatures in a vacuum,” she writes. “We are constantly…picking things up that we wouldn’t otherwise, realizing what we love and who we are through someone else’s experience of them.” This kinetic energy pulses through the memoir as things and people come together and then apart over and over again. There is a mix of personal and collective history, and a recognition of privilege is certainly present. This memoir recognizes that living authentically is a radical act, and by the end, it is clear that Raechel Anne Jolie is a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you Netgally and the author for the gifted copy. All thoughts are completely my own.

This was a dnf for me. Like others have mentioned the tense changes very quickly which at time made it difficult to read.

I also found some of the wording a bit offputting. It just didn't sit well in my head.

Rust Belt Femme is a coming of age story. Raechel writes an honest and heartfelt story about growing up poor, the search for identity, and an accident involving her father that had her life, as she knew it at a young age, uncertain.

She writes about her family and surroundings not as if she were lacking in money and what she didn't have, but the rich memories she had of her grandmother(whom I especially liked), her relationships, and the world she discovered on Coventry Road. Each of these elements helped form her into the person she is today and she holds her head high as she recounts the memories. Some of them painful. This book was very relatable even if you didn't grow up poor. Exploring the world beyond the confines of your back yard is exciting as a teen and I loved her mother for encouraging her.

I admire Raechel's tenacity to get an education despite the lack of funds and hold on to her true identity.

Thank you Netgalley and Belt Publishing for the arc.

Loved this book. I grew up in Cle Iceland as well, and could relate to places and the era! Great book!

There are two statements Jolie writes that really resonate with me: “Poverty is as damaging as it is enriching.” Jolie talks about her life and connects it to the person she has turned into today. It is a story I think many will relate to - I did. The story was very familiar even though I did not grow up in the rural midwest. I nodded my head many times while reading.

“Trauma is an incoherent language of the body.” Wow. So freaking true. I do not know why this one sentence impacted me so much, but it has.

I will say that I expected something a little different from a “queer” writer’s memoir. I confess I did not expect a book full of male and female sexual relationships (laugh). Jolie only references any other references, but details all heterosexual relationships. If you were hoping, as I was, for a sexual identity memoir in the manner of homosexuality - this is not it.

Jolie focuses on what being a woman is to her and how growing up in rural Ohio and in poverty impacted this awareness. Jolie’s story is a mix of yesterday’s speak and today’s learned language. It makes it an interesting read where you can find nuggets of “holy sugar” that hits home.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

An honest and refreshing coming of age memoir which deals with poverty, childhood adversity, trauma and realising your part in the LGBTQ community. I knew nothing about Raechel before reading this book but fell in love with her and her quirks.

This memoir gives its reader a beautiful snapshot of the author's coming of age, and addresses those of us who rarely ever see ourselves portrayed on the page - white trash, poor, growing up in the suburbs/country/heartland of America, not knowing if we'll have futures, in the places we don't usually fictionalize because their beauty isn't seen by the outside world. Parts of this where met with such a rigorous shaking of my head, I'm surprised I didn't get dizzy - especially when she talks about her mom and her strength, along with the strength of other working-class women she grew up around; her detailed chapters on how the world treats us white trash girls, and how we learn to survive; and how well she is able to capture how trauma shapes a person years into the future. When she touches on her journey of finding feminism, punk, and anarchist politics, and how these political and moral views resounded with her, I felt that deeply in my soul, too. I identify with Raechel Anne Jolie, and I'm hopeful to see more memoirs about the white trash of America. We deserve for our voices to be heard, and Jolie will hopefully be at the forefront of this new wave of writers.

A fascinating view of what it's like to come out and be yourself while growing up impoverished. Did her upbringing shape who she is today? Read the book and find out. It's an unflinchingly honest story that will resonate long after you finish the book. Well done and well told. Happy reading!