What an interesting read! Though I wasn't familiar with the author, I was immediately drawn to the cover, title, and premise of the book: tacky or low culture, specifically of the early 2000s: Jersey Shore, Creed, Hot Topic, etc. I really really enjoyed this book - but I think it is a very different book of essays that reads more like a memoir. That being said, I would still recommend this title, but make sure the person you're recommending it to is comfortable with the amount of sex and unhealthy relationships depicted.

This enjoyable, hilarious collection features essays on more than a dozen often reviled pop culture phenomena from the 90s and early 00s. The audience and humor are very specific, but excellent. I'm a little older (elder Millennial) than the author and could identify with the content and snark. Each essay focuses on a different topic, from Creed to Sex and the City to Hot Topic. Definitely pick up if you're looking for something light-hearted and punchy.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this ARC.

This is Rax King’s memoir. From the title I thought it would be more like cultural criticism or sociology, and there are touches of that, but it isn’t the thrust of the book. The book is mostly about King’s relationships, not just romantic, told through the lens of the “tacky” culture that she loves. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It is also a book in favor of authenticity and against the culture of irony and appearances. It’s very readable and often relatable. Four-ish stars.

TACKY: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer is a collection of personal essays by Rax King. While each essay ostensibly centers around a different tacky thing (e.g., Creed, Hot Topic), the book traces Rax's coming of age and personal growth -- at times, TACKY seemed to be more memoir-in-essays than a collection of essays on pop culture.

It took me an essay or three to settle into the collection, but once I did, I found a lot to like. Some of the cultural touchstones resonated more with me than others (Josie and the Pussycats, Samantha Jones, Warm Vanilla Sugar). But I don't think one needs memories of 2000s (American white teen?) culture to enjoy TACKY. The standout essay to me was Never Fall in Love at the Jersey Shore (and I've never seen an episode).

The essays could verge on repetition, but I loved the through-line of unabashedly loving the music, TV, etc. that makes our hearts sing. Who cares if it's "good?" or has "prestige?" As Rax puts it: "Life is short. It's important to attach oneself to the pieces that stick, regardless of whether somebody else believes the stuff is any good."

This is an essay collection that feels more like a memoir and some parts of it worked really well. I liked the essays near the beginning that had a lot of pop culture discussion (for example, an essay about Warm Vanilla Sugar). These were nostalgic and cringe and fun. For different reasons, I also liked the ending of the book, which was much more serious and discussed the author's experience with an abusive relationship. It was well-written and emotional. However, the middle of the book didn't work for me. It began to feel a bit slow and recounted many sexual encounters that the author had. I felt like this middle part lost focus compared to the stronger beginning and ending.
Overall I enjoyed some parts of this book, but it did not feel totally cohesive as a whole.

This essay collection was seriously incredible and hit a ton harder than expected. Loved the Hot Topic vignettes. 2000s-era Hot Topic was truly a sight to behold.

You have to go into this knowing it's not a pop culture book but a personal essay book! Once you know that, you can appreciate how the tacky culture--Creed, Jersey Shore, Cheesecake Factory, Bath & Body Works, etc--provides themes for the personal explorations. Overall the essays were a little uneven, but some of them were so spectacular, The Jersey Shore one in particular, about the author bonding with her dad over the show, that I couldn't give it less than 4 stars. I also loved the dreamy ode to Warm Vanilla Sugar, which is all about femininity and adolescence.

I really appreciate depictions of family relationships that are fraught but written with a lot of generosity and grace, which I think this book was. I also like a lot of the same tacky things! (Not Creed though.) So I feel someone vindicated by how much I related to the author's feelings and experiences.

Here's to more earnestness, and to appreciating things we enjoy un-ironically. I hope this book recruits others to its side.

This book is funny. It made me laugh so many times. The author also doesn’t take herself too seriously which is refreshing. I dislike that another thing one is supposed to concern themselves with is having good taste. It would be so awful to be considered doing something tacky. Life is too short to let that weigh you down. If you like something, you just do, and I think it is best to enjoy the joy it brings and not have to always add a label to every action.

I think the author does a good job of conveying this. There are so many pop cultural references and those are fun to read, especially about loving The Jersey Shore and how important The Mall was to teenagers. The Jersey Shore essay was poignant because the author is so close with her dad and it’s something they shared together. They knew it was low brow and silly and did not care. Her dad even calls her at college each week to review the show since she can not see it there. It shows how something dumb can actually have much meaning.

As the book goes on though, I felt a shift in the author’s thinking. The book wasn’t about tacky culture and silliness anymore. I suspect the author was going through a rather difficult period in her late teens and early 20’s. Then you know with certainty she is because she is married and in an emotionally abusive marriage. She mentions liking Guy Fieri and the 3D’s that was his show. Yet, there is deep heartbreak she is speaking about. Even though the tone is different, I was quite moved by the way she describes life. She is an honest and true person that doesn’t try to cover her mistakes and wrong decisions. I found that moving. So, the book starts out hilarious and ends on a strong note of loving Meatloaf’s song, Bat out of Hell. It evokes young love,passion, and heartbreak in an over-the-top way. When you’ve just moved out of a destructive relationship, you need a song like that. I’m glad she found it and sang her heart out.

I also love the cover. Is it Tacky? Each person can decide for themselves.

Thank you NetGalley, Rax King, and Vintage Publishing for a copy of this book.

What a great collection of stories to serve as a palette cleanser, not only between other books but also from the world!
These stories are funny, and I loved the bits of personal shared within them.
What a unique and interesting way to weave together part memoir and part pop culture - my other favorite thing to dive into besides the pages of a book!

For someone who loves to read, I totally missed the part of the blurb that says these are “deeply personal” essays. There it is, on the first line—That’s on me. So now I’m channeling my inner Pauly D, writing an anonymous note and making it politically correct (sans thesaurus).

First of all, the book just makes me smile. Every new chapter heading took me back, and I laughed out loud imagining how that jolt of recognition would connect to the story (ex. You Wanna Be On Top). I think this is primarily what kept me turning pages. I loved the intro, the story about Creed, and then quickly began to wonder what I was actually reading. I felt a little bamboozled by the cover that gave me the impression the letters would be more general and humorous, filled with 2000s-coming-of-age nostalgia. The “deeply personal” piece as it turns out, was key, and the content is heavy. Adjusting my expectations, it almost read like the pop culture references were chosen first and the personal stories second, which meant the references needed to do acrobatics at times to try and drive the point home.

while i had extra time in a really busy month i got to read this and i really enjoyed it, theres a lot of stuff i didnt know about since im maybe way too young but i liked to hear about the authors opinions on each topic. it also created a really cute memory of my sister and i talking about the stuff she found tacky which was really fun!

I toughly enjoyed this collections of essays. Some hit harder than others, I was a little skeptical with the chapter about Creed, but they perfectly fit the title of Tacky.

I love all things tacky. I love things I should feel guilty about liking so I was incredibly excited for a book of cultural criticism and snark regarding those things. Especially regarding the things I grew up on? Yes, I was all in.

That wasn't quite what this was.. I was hoping for a deep dive and commentary on things like Degrassi, Cheesecake Factory, Hot Topic and so many topics that speak so much of my childhood. Reading Tacky, I just felt duped. Rax King does write thoughtfully and there were lines that made me laugh out loud, but it didn't quite read the way I expected. I did appreciate her analysis, but it certainly wasn't the book thought I'd be reading so it left me a little disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for an ARC of this title.

These are fairly fun essays that are less about things that are tacky and more about a memoir of Rax King's childhood and adventures in flirting, kissing, sex, and kinks. She uses vehicles like the Cheesecake Factory, Samantha from Sex and the City, Sexting, Hot Topic, America's Next Top Model, and Bath & Body Works's Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray as vehicles to talk about her coming of age, college years, sexual partners, and sexual fulfillment in a variety of ways.

King is clearly a talented writer - these essays are engaging and fun, and she has a sharp eye for cultural critique - but I found myself less interested in the subject matter. I wish these essays had even more cultural commentary and (I feel awful saying this!) less memoir. Overall, this is a light and fast read that gives you a glimpse in Rax King's world of being a sex-positive millennial. There are some mentions of tacky things, but you should go into it expecting a memoir that mentions some cheugy cultural phenomena. Thank you to Knopf Doubleday for the ARC via Netgalley!

People like what they like. Some people are high-minded with regard to their cultural consumption, while others revel in the lowbrow. And there are those of us – I’m including myself here – who find things to like on both ends of the taste spectrum. It’s not right or wrong. It simply is.

Sure, there are folks out there who will gleefully look down their nose at people who embrace items, ideas and experiences that the snobbier among us consider beneath them. It’s the conflicting differences between the hois polloi – the original Greek definition (indicating the masses or general public) and the adopted meaning (people of distinction; the elite) – writ large.

But still – people like what they like, however tacky some might consider it.

In “Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer,” Rax King offers up essays celebrating the things she loves, no matter how lowbrow they might be. These pieces illustrate a life lived not for the sake of appearances, but for the sake of enjoyment. And we’re not talking about detached, ironic enjoyment either – Rax King likes what she likes and could genuinely care less how you feel about it.

Over the course of these 14 essays, King goes long and deep on things that perhaps haven’t often received the long/deep treatment. She talks about chain restaurants and comfort food and reality television, all acting as a framework wherein she can explore her own development. These pieces are smart and crass and unapologetic and wildly entertaining.

Right off the bat, King makes clear where we’re going. The first essay in the collection – titled “Six Feet from the Edge” – is about her ongoing and genuine affection for the band Creed. She speaks about how it has long been a secret, almost shameful, that she has kept from those close to her. Even now, she has some difficulty being fully forthcoming about her affinity for a band that so many so-called elites sneer at (even as she expresses doubt that they hate the band as much as they proclaim to). She leans into the odd tautology that has developed around the band – they’re Creed, so they’re bad and they’re bad because they’re Creed – and digs into some of the wants and desires swirling around frontman Scott Stapp, as well as how King’s own needs intersect with her fandom.

Yeah – it’s that kind of book.

We get an essay about the ways in which King’s relationship with her father was shaped by a shared affection for the MTV reality show “Jersey Shore.” Other TV programs that get the business in these pages include “Sex and the City,” “America’s Next Top Model” and “Degrassi,” with each essay utilizing the love of the show as an entry point into a deeper exploration of King’s personal world.

Is there an essay involving Hot Topic? Reader, you better believe it.

My personal highlight is probably “Exactly as Much Spinach-and-Cheese Dip,” an essay revolving around The Cheesecake Factory and its precariously balanced spot on the dividing line between chain casual and more upscale dining. Only it’s ALSO about relationships – familial relationships and romantic ones, all deconstructed through the experience of the restaurant’s faux-fancy décor and massive menu. Truly heartfelt stuff.

“Tacky” brings together cultural criticism and the personal essay and combines them into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. By digging into the specificity of her own connections to these seemingly innocuous and/or inane things, King takes the reader on a journey that is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking.

There are those who might argue that the poignancy and impact of King’s personal explorations are somehow dulled by the pop cultural framework she utilizes, but those people – snobs that they almost certainly are – will have entirely missed the point. It is because of that framework that we can gain a truer understanding of the stories King seeks to tell.

Obviously, your mileage may vary regarding the effectiveness of these essays. There will almost certainly be references that don’t resonate with you over the course of these 14 pieces; I know there were a couple that simply went over my head. But that’s the point – we like what we like and who gives a damn what anyone else thinks?

“Tacky” is a thoughtful and charmingly snarky read; King is a gifted storyteller who is unafraid to aim those gifts squarely at herself – a rare combination. So pull on your snakeskin pants, order up a Crispy Chicken Costoletta and crank up the Creed – Rax King will take it from there.

This book should have been perfect for me according to the blurb- love letters to bad pop culture? I’m here for it ten times over. Unfortunately, that’s not what this book actually is. It does tangentially reference pop culture at times, but only as a framework to talk about the author, her relationships (family and otherwise) and how quirky and unusual she is. This would have been better positioned as a memoir rather than a fun collection of essays. Unless you really want to read an endless litany of ways the author is not like other girls, take a pass on this one.

This is basically a memoir told in stories around the author's various pop culture obsessions (aka guilty pleasures). I think she does a good job of telling her story and the premise in itself is clever, but this was maybe not what I was expecting from a book called Tacky, proposing a look at the worst parts of pop culture. I really wasn't expecting a memoir.

As a memoir, this is really quite good.

As a look at pop culture, it sort of falls a bit flat.

Rax King’s Tacky is an autobiographical journey through the malls and chain restaurants of suburban America. Ms. King deftly writes about her relationships with her dying father, friends, sexual partners and ex-husband while walking the reader through her, and their, affinity for popular culture. Although there is a certain melancholy to the author’s thoughts, she has produced a book that makes you smile as you remember that there is joy in even the most tacky things.

In this smart and funny collection of essays, Rax King takes on topics ranging from tacos to glitter paint to sexting with a large amount of humor and insight. While I’m not in the target age group for many of these essays, I could still appreciate her bold outlook on life and I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes.