I didn't click with the writing on this book that I expected to be more of a second-wave feminism thing but it sometimes read like a personal memoir. If it had been sold as a memoir, I would understand. It was longer than it needed to be without a spark of personality to keep me engaged. Maybe I'm too old to relate. Feminism means something very different to me. The personal sex stories didn't really mount to a thesis and the overview of feminism wasn't really compelling for me. It just didn't connect to this one.

Nona Willis Aronowitz holds no punches in this frank look at love, sex, marriage, and romance. NWA grapples with the questions most of us dare to not admit we even think about, much less write about. It was gripping and also made me stop to ponder what I would do in similar situations. NWA continues to write from the heart.

Bad Sex by Nora Willis Aronowitz was hard to follow. It doesn't have a clear structure or main point. While she talks about feminism and history, most of the book is about herself, and it feels like she's only thinking about her problems. It's not the deep dive into sex as I thought it might be.

If I went into Bad Sex, realizing it was more memoir than "the truth about bad sex," I may have enjoyed it or appreciated the book more.

I mentioned 'Bad Sex' in my 2022 reflection piece on how discussions about bad sex dominated the conversation that year. The book missed the mark for me, but it was because I expected a book about...bad sex. Instead, it's part memoir part history of sexual culture in the United States. There wasn't much analysis of "bad sex" as a phrase or concept.

DNF. I think there's a really interesting story in here, and I really like this writer, but this was all over the place. I understand the self-indulgence, but it was at times really hard to follow. I so appreciated the honesty and the voice, and I could see myself coming back to this as a reference at times, but it was a challenge to decode that I didn't feel was worth the effort in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group, Dutton for the advanced copy of Bad Sex.

This book explores attitudes and contemporary framing around sex and what makes it exciting and enjoyable with some partners and “bad” with others. The author explores her own relationships and shared personal insight as well as history.

This was interesting and thoughtful. At times I found it to be a little self indulgent without truly understanding the perspective. I was challenged to think about my own relationships and my attitudes and relationship to sex. I enjoyed the sex positive frame and openness to explore a topic that is often approached in euphemism.