Great critical theory addition to feminism, intersectionality, and gender in the world. Will be using this in postcolonial literature classes.

Absolutely adored this book. Was exactly what I was looking for and hoping it would be. 10/10. Highly recommend.

The Feminist Killjoy Handbook; The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way by Sara Ahmed is a must read! I was truly thankful to have gotten to read this before most people! I would like to purchase this one for my physical library!

I requested this title too late to read, but everything I have seen of the book looks great.
I requested this title too late to read, but everything I have seen of the book looks great.

This quote somes up this book really nicely...

The feminist killjoy begins her political life as a stereotype of feminists, a negative judgment, a way of dismissing feminism as causing and caused by misery. In reclaiming the feminist killjoy for ourselves, we turn the judgment into a project, because if feminism causes misery, that is what we might need to cause. So often the terms used to dismiss feminism provide evidence of its necessity.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I didn’t enjoy the authors writing style, and was not compelled to pick this book up. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book spoke to me on a deep level! The title itself got me, but I loved the deeper dive into the "killjoy" archetype. This book helped me think critically about my own feminism and helped me develop strategies to not go insane when encountering those who can't help but spout misogynistic BS... I would love to give every women in my life this book to empower more people to speak up and be a "killjoy."

Sara Ahmed's academic writing has been a big influence for me, so I was very interested to see how she adapted her style to a broader audience. It took me some adjusting, which is to say Sara makes it work. In fact, she makes being a "feminist killjoy" a, well, joy! I'm especially looking forward to sharing this with my high school students, particularly those who identify as feminists. They will likely feel seen and they will also benefit from my favorite line of Sara's: “Remember our killjoy truth: there is only so much you can take on because there is only so much you can take in.”

A dive into how to be a feminist killjoy. I was expecting more analysis but this read more like a manifesto. There is some analysis of pop-culture but it wasn't quite what I expected. Still a lot of interesting points were made though.

I love this. Yes I am willing to cause unhappiness. My friend just finished a run for mayor and the misogyny she dealt with should have persuaded me and other women to stay away from politics but I am wanting to dive in more. I want to run for everything. I want to do it just so it stops being a game for men.
I need to know how to handle the rude comments and this book helps.
We should be leading. We need to lead. We need to stop trying to fit into the world as it is right now.
I will fight for any woman of color running for office for always. I have no regrets. I will do it again and again.

Sara Ahmed’s "The Feminist Killjoy Handbook" is unlike any feminist text I’ve read before. The book is divided into six primary sections, each taking the time to delve into the different forms of being a feminist killjoy. Using several texts and real-world examples, Ahmed points to the importance of coming together. They write, “To create new meaning is to create new ways of being together.” Throughout the book, the topic of togetherness is at the forefront and Ahmed does a lovely job of reminding us and connecting this idea with examples. The book can be captured in the following sentence: “Killjoy activism is also about how we create and share resources, how we identify violence, including institutional violence, the violence of how institutions respond to violence” (Ahmed).

Most of the book was reassuring in that it’s nice to know that there are other people that think like me. Ahmed’s tone is instructional, yet tender. For instance, they write, ““Remember our killjoy truth: there is only so much you can take on because there is only so much you can take in.” It is totally exhausting trying to battle everyday social injustices, and Ahmed gently reminds us that we should do our best given our circumstances. This is one of the many reasons I find that Ahmed’s book stands out from other feminist texts.

I like Sara Ahmed's academic writing, and it was interesting to see it adapted for a wider audience here. I liked her approach of weaving in lots of examples of the points she's making about feminist killjoys - her own stories, stories that have been shared with her, and examples from literature, pop culture, and theory. I thought the structure of this was effective, and I appreciated the different ways of looking at the feminist killjoy - as critic, as poet, as philosopher, and as activist. Throughout, Ahmed integrates Killjoy Truths, Killjoy Maxims, Killjoy Commitments, and Killjoy Equations, and then she reiterates them at the end in a comprehensive list. It took me a while to get through this, as it was still a bit more dense than a typical popular non-fiction book, but I found Ahmed's writing very engaging and her message pretty inspiring and empowering.

Perhaps this was just not what I expected. Based on the title and description, I thought this would be more of a traditional “handbook.” I thought that it might give some pointers for being a more effective feminist killjoy; advice for how to potentially get through to others. Or maybe there would be some supportive words for coping with the alienation that being a killjoy can so easily bring when around loved ones. Instead, there was an explicit recognition that the author is dismantling the concept of what a “handbook” can be.

I think if I would have gone into this book with an understanding that it would be more theoretical, I may have liked it more. But I’m still not sure that I would have LOVED it. I frequently found the author’s writing style to be very opaque. To be fair, this was especially true within “The Feminist Killjoy as Philosopher” and “The Feminist Killjoy as Poet” chapters. But I still found it distracting from the message (even when I understood the intent). My favorite parts tended to be the simple truths, maxims, and equations - because they were the most concise & poignant.

Don’t get me wrong; I did enjoy this book as a sort of historical and cultural study of what it means to be a feminist killjoy. Not being familiar with the author beforehand, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was most certainly NOT limited to white feminism. And I loved a lot of the references/quotations, especially the frequent return to Audre Lorde’s work. The writing style just wasn’t for me - and that’s okay.

(A very small note: The ARC that I received repeatedly used the “LGBTQI+” acronym. Seeing as this is not nearly as common as either "LGBTQ+" or "LGBTQIA+", it felt awkwardly intentional. I have no idea why asexual, aromantic, and agender folks were excluded in this way.)

I've been following Sara Ahmed for a long time, and I was delighted when this manifesto showed up on Netgalley. Per usual, Ahmed does not mince words. She goes straight for the jugular about and for the feminist killjoy, and this book, and her career, are reminders to us all to speak out, to organize, and to look out for each other.

Brilliant. Urgent, gorgeously written, everything we need now. If you haven’t read Ahmed before, start here and then read all earlier other works. But no matter what, read Ahmed. Don’t wait.

I appreciate Sara Ahmed's writing and was interested in this book as a "handbook". It might be the best general front door to Ahmed's other writing and the most practical for the reader.

Sara Ahmed writes a manifesto to being loud, in-your-face, and obstinate with your ethics. I absolutely loved The Feminist Killjoy Handbook, and if you are radical and firm in your beliefs, you will, too.

I adore Sara Ahmed's work in every sense, so this book was of course a joy to read. At times, it was a bit repetitive, but that didn't really get in the way of my overall reading experience.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I definitely recommend this book. A feminist killjoy is a new concept to me, but I now realize I am an internalized feminist killjoy. This book was sad and difficult to read at times because it points out some facts about feminism that are problematic and unfortunately true.

Read this if you’ve ever had someone roll their eyes at you because you’re being “easily offended”, if you have been called “over sensitive”, or if you want to gain insight into white feminism and how BIPOC women have been erased from history around feminism.