Normalize It

A thoughtful examination of the many stigmas that affect women in particular.

(I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

This book is an absolute masterpiece that fearlessly unpacks the complexities and stigmas shaping women's lives. From the weight of societal expectations surrounding marriage to the silent grief of miscarriages and the layered emotions of divorce, every narrative is presented with a raw honesty that resonates deeply. The author skillfully addresses topics like body image, abortion, and the pressure to conform to traditional gender roles, creating a space where women's voices feel truly heard and validated.

The writing is compassionate and unapologetic, weaving together personal stories and cultural critiques in a way that is both enlightening and deeply moving. Each chapter peels back the layers of shame and silence that so often surround these issues, transforming them into powerful conversations that foster understanding and empathy. It's a book that will leave you feeling seen, challenged, and inspired to continue these essential discussions. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the emotional landscape women navigate daily. This is a game-changer!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy for an honest review.

First of all thanks to Netgalley for a Advance review. I felt a little strange requesting and receiving this one, as a man I felt little encroachy, but I was also super interested and hoped to learn and perhaps be challenged as well.

Second I haven’t read Zucker’s first book “I had a Miscarriage” and weirdly, as much as non-fiction across different topics can be, I feel like Normalize It is a sequel. Not that this is a huge issue factually or content wise, however I feel there is a powerful journey here that could be missed out on, if Zucker’s first book hasn’t been read. To explain a little further, Normalize It is a sort of expansion of the original theme into many other elements of women’s lives – and I don’t think this book is impaired as a stand-alone it just seems like there would be a lot of emotional connection for a reader of the earlier book. It would feel like a natural journey from Zucker's biographical journey, expanding to other challenging topics.

Anyway so onto the actual book and not (pre)rambling too much.
Normalize It is written as a collection of amalgamated and anonymized case-studies collecting various challenges and issue women face – and an interwoven theme of expressing oneself and connecting with others being an important step to, as the tin says, Normalize it.

A real strength of the book is the compellingly written stories and the humaneness of it all. I confess there was maybe one story that was too heavily fictionalized and I felt like I was reading a Reddit thread, but overall people’s stories were the highlight of the book and in many respects absolutely did the job of normalizing.

One minor critique (which probably sounds harsher than warranted its more a nitpick) is that the structure for each chapter tended towards a common formula. As touching and powerful the stories were, there was a sense of ‘and everybody clapped’ (again probably a bit harsh, its just that almost all the stories revolve around the women in the example learning to connect and communicate about their issue and feel better for it. To be fair there were some interesting twists in the stories. Sometimes the people described were suffering the consequences of their own poor behaviour and Zucker doesn’t shy away from pointing that out.)

This is the sort of book that has (perhaps ironically) a lot of hidden insight, Zucker doesn’t necessarily spell out each lesson in bullet points but through hearing the stories and discussing the context there is a lot of wisdom to be found. I had a strange bugbear about this book that it felt a little ‘safe’ in some respects – in the early pages there is an excellent discussion about how part of the issue is that people seems to reject complexity and nuance, they want women to present as ABC and ABC only – however there wasn’t much more discussion of the whys and wherefores, which left me a bit hungry for more. Though in review I’m sort of realizing that’s a bit beyond the purview of the book. Zucker’s purpose here is to normalize and help people connect (which doesn’t always need a deep dive) but fingers crossed that Zucker might deconstruct society for the next book!

an unapologetic insight into that challenges and stigmas women face, shown through anonymous, powerful stories.

i’m not a non-fiction reader but i was drawn to this for some reason, and i’m glad i applied for the arc. it’s poignant and telling and i’d encourage everyone to read it.

full review coming soon.