Rust Belt Femme

by Raechel Anne Jolie

Raechel Anne Jolie’s early life in a working-class Cleveland exurb was full of race cars, Budweiser-drinking men covered in car grease, and the women who loved them. After her father came home from his third-shift job, took the garbage out to the curb and was hit by a drunk driver, her life changed.

Raechel and her mother struggled for money: they were evicted, went days without utilities, and took their trauma out on one another. Raechel escaped to the progressive suburbs of Cleveland Heights, leaving the tractors and ranch-style homes home in favor of a city with vintage marquees, music clubs, and people who talked about big ideas. It was the early 90s, full of Nirvana songs and chokers, flannel shirts and cut-off jean shorts, lesbian witches and local coffee shops.

Rust Belt Femme is the story of how these twin foundations—rural Ohio poverty and alternative 90s culture—made Raechel into who she is today: a queer femme with PTSD and a deep love of the Midwest.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer, Feminism, Biography Memoir, Biography

150 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2020

About the author

Raechel Anne Jolie received her PhD in Communication Studies with a minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies from the University of Minnesota. Her writing has been published in Teen Vogue, Bitch Magazine, In These Times, and more.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't place exactly why this didn't hit for me - I was very excited to read it and felt it fell flat. There were some political references - "feeling" poor after getting out of poverty, and a weird hunk late in the book about how white people who are poor/"white trash" and not ""really"" white (including a throwaway line of, of course white people benefit from white skin privilege, but..), and a few times where the author "know it's not 'feminist,' BUT.." - which sucked. There's an odd number of super academic quotes sprinkled throughout, and even though the author is 30+, the timeline essentially stops at 18 years old. There's also queer feelings/ideas but no depictions of relationships with anyone queer/anyone other than cis men. The most fun to read was 90s/2000s reference to pop punk and band shows and talking about how powerful music felt when discovering it.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay story, but large parts of it failed to hold my interest. I did enjoy the few references to the 90s.

The timeline which was all over the place, along with the rapid tense changes, didn't help. A small example (Later, I did not want the attention of my mom's boyfriend, but it will happen anyway.)

With that said, I'm sure many readers will get more out of this memoir than I did.

Copy obtained via NetGalley.

[Amie's Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY REVIEW:

"This story, then, is about growing up in poverty in rural Ohio, finding hope in the alternative culture I'd discovered in Cleveland, and how my complicated love for these people and these places is a tenacious part of everything I've done since leaving it. Every bit of it turned me into the queer femme feminist writer I am today..."

"In between [her childhood] and now are Northeast Ohio landmarks that left scars, sometimes like kisses and sometimes like razor blades."

RUST BELT FEMME is a love letter to the good, the bad, and the Very Bad   incidents, people and places which have coalesced, forming Raechel into the person and the destiny that had been hers all along.

Raechel's candor is refreshing, and as such, her personality shines through with every word she writes. I have read reviews referring to the sometimes crude language she uses as inappropriate, but I have to disagree with that assessment. Raechel was raised in a blue collar home and the language she often uses in her book reflects that fact. A memoir can be written with lyrical prose of the very best kind and yet still be a flop with its intended readers. Why does this happen? I believe one word can sum up why a memoir either succeeds or fails; that word is AUTHENTICITY. Authenticity is (or should be) the goal of all memoir/auto-biographical authors. RUST BELT FEMME has authenticity in spades.

Having never heard of Raechel Anne Jolie before seeing the listing for this book on the NetGalley website, I began reading Rust Belt Femme with no preconceived notions of it's content. Because of this, every new morsel of information was eagerly awaited and Raechel did not disappoint.

RUST BELT FEMME proves just how important childhood events are in the formation of the adult we will become. Raechel's loss of her father figure at such a  tender age was the single event upon which her  childhood took a distinctly darker turn. Despite her family's economic issues, she "... never doubted that [her] mom loved [her] more than anything, and that she would love [her] profoundly and without condition. There was never one instance when she made [her] feel like [she] had to change, not one second when she didn't make it clear that [Raechel] was the most important thing to her in the world."

"In her Introduction, Raechel states: "... whether our neurology is burdened by trauma or not, I think most of us who are drawn to memoir are burdened with an incurable case of nostalgia." I agree wholeheartedly and admit that I am afflicted with the exact nostalgia she is talking about, and in reading RUST BELT FEMME, that desire was 100% fulfilled.

I rate RUST BELT FEMME as 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and highly recommend this book to all my fellow memoir lovers.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.*

To read more of my reviews visit my blog at http://Amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com

Or http://bit.ly/RBFemme

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[Erica Gbur · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a prime example that not everyone with an interesting life story to tell has the skill to write an interesting memoir. The writing style is boring. The author repeats some stories upwards of five times in what is only a 176 page book. None of the insights on queerness or capitalism/poverty are particularly insightful or meaningful or added to my understanding of the world in a way I hadn’t already read elsewhere. In fact, in the chapters discussing queer studies, the author predominantly copies and pastes quotes from other authors, without adding much in the way of compelling commentary to those quotes.

It is also incredibly misleading that this book is so heavily billed as a “queer novel,” to the point where even the title paints it as an LGBT book. The minimal discussion of the author’s queer identity is always as an aside. The book dedicated chapters to her high school boyfriends, but her girlfriends and queer discovery only get passing references as something that will happen to her later, outside the timeline of the book. Now, this is in no way to say that her primary focus on her class status in childhood isn’t important or should’ve been reduced. It’s also in no way a critique of the fact that she does dedicate chapters to the boyfriends or that it in anyway diminishes her queer identity. But this is only a 176 page book, there’s no reason why, if it’s billed as a coming of age queer memoir, it could not have extended into at least her college years.

[Timothy Oleksiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raechel Anne Jolie’s Rust Belt Femme is masterful. She blends innocence with the sharp realities of trauma in ways that are surprising and sudden. Never judgmental and in every way tender and human, this book shows us how to love ourselves and those who’ve been a part of our lives.

Importantly, Jolie does not sensationalize trauma. She treats it with the respect and dignity of not offering pat or reductive meaning. These are humans who love and who hurt and are hurt by complex systems of oppression. Hers is a story of being affected by all of this and a narrative of how to thrive with it all.

I read the book with tears streaming down my face. It made me recall my own working-class background. The shouting. The refusal to "protect" kids from the adult language (the crude jokes, the tv constantly playing, the crassness, etc.). Jolie writes of a childhood always from the realities and awareness that hers is a story about her youth with the insights and fierce intellect of her accumulated years of living and learning. Her intelligence does not betray the sensitivity and innocent perspective of her childhood or adolescent self.

Rust Belt Femme illustrates how class, trauma, and queerness are present in our pasts and our presents and that healing and resilience isn't always about leaving those things behind but learning to heal without letting go or forgetting. Jolie shows us a kind of queer healing that is compelling and deftly crafted.

For teachers and scholars of memoir, memory, affect, and the working class, this book would be a wonderful addition to the class. I can't help but thinking Jolie's RBF would be great alongside Jonathan Alexander's Creep.

For those just looking for a beautiful story that is incredibly written Rust Belt Femme is worth the read.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

constantly changing tenses in the middle of paragraphs is unfortunately not my vibe lmao
also this was not very gay. which is fine. but i was expecting it to be like. a tiny bit more gay based on the title and the fact that i borrowed it from the gay library aslkdfjaskldjf

[Hope Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so bad to love this book but it just wasn’t written well - the story had some beautiful moments and scenes but the writing style would go from bland dry retelling to preaching at me scholarly sources to something in poetic detail without a good flow. Also when the word femme is on the cover I expected more talk about being queer and growing up poor rather than only peppering in some queer stuff mostly towards the end. I really wasn’t interested in the in depth retelling stories of cis men that sounded really annoying hah and there was a lot of that - I also really hated the one part about being happy about femme and butch roles “i know this isn’t very feminist of me but” like lol ew and I didn’t like the part where she talked about being white trash like it made her not white and it came across like she didn’t see she has white privledge because that’s so wrong! This is coming from who grew up poor and a closeted lesbian and white

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun, engaging read. I also grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, so obviously that connection contributed to my enjoyment, but Rust Belt Femme does an excellent job of balancing personal details and larger takeaways about Raechel's history and her queer femme identity, which makes for a quick, easy and impactful read. I don't think I've read anything else that explores the intersections between class, race, gender and sexuality in such a concise and accessible way.

My only real complaint is that I wish this had been a bit longer, or at least covered a longer period of time. Because it focuses on Raechel's time in Cleveland and she doesn't come to terms with her queerness until her college years, we hear a lot about what shaped that identity but not about how that identity actually looks and how it impacts her life, aside from a few paragraphs looking forward.

[Lara Lillibridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of love and a testament of forgiveness, Jolie explores not just love of family, but of place, of class. “this city built by worker’s hands.” This memoir conveys a love of self and a gentleness that I haven't seen before. Rust Belt Femme is a thoughtful and personal examination of class and gender, and how Jolie found her peace with both. A narrative of strength and resilience, Jolie writes simply and beautifully about growing up poor and other, while also acknowledging the privilege she did have.

[Olivia Bowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a love story, just like most stories from the rust belt are. As a rust belt child myself, I felt like I was reading my childhood over again (though I was admittedly more middle class and lived deeper in rurality which meant a much later leftist radicalization). Still, I felt like Raechel was a friend I had in elementary school, who had endured adult problems at such a tender age thanks to the vulnerability of American poverty. Vignettes of love, both for people and for places, is, in my opinion, the best way to illustrate the rust belt for others. The poverty and decay is a backdrop that you come to romanticize and adore, especially after you leave. I only wish it was more linear. Jumping to college/adult jobs/relationships in the middle of chapters about youth was jarring. But I suppose life experiences are tied together in a similar fashion, so it’s a personal preference of mine. Thank you for writing this!!!!

[Amy Invernizzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt deeply seen by this one, phew

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid coming of age memoir

[Camee · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Ohioan I really enjoyed and appreciated that Jolie focused much of Rust Belt Femme around growing up in the Cleveland area and how much her home state and city have shaped her and her life. Her time living in Ohio was gritty and difficult, but she also highlighted the good moments too. I grew up finding solace in punk and alternative music so I also found a surprising familiarity in Jolie's love for this music and scene. I was never so cool as to go to dozens of shows and hang out with bands, but I blame that on shyness, living in a small town, and being nearly 10 years too late to join in on the fun.

While I adored everything that Jolie wrote about music and activism, I felt a little lost on the queer part of her story. As a straight cis female I don't want to talk about this too much because I don't feel like I have the authority to, but I felt like most of Jolie's focus was on her relationships with men, not about her relationships with women or even her experience realizing she was queer. This was surprising to me because I picked up the book to learn more about what it is like to identify as femme and I just don't feel like I learned much from reading this. Jolie touches on the topic briefly but for a book with a title like "Rust Belt Femme" it just didn't come up as much as I imagined it to.

Overall well written and engrossing, I just hope it doesn't let down those looking for more of what the title proclaims.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, some light criticism--this book can seem very disjointed at times, and especially toward the end the "chapters" seem kind of arbitrary and sometimes unfinished. Also, it's just too short! I would have liked to see some of the ideas fleshed out a bit more (especially pertaining to the development of her queer Femme identity on college and after)
Now, gushing praise--WOW, this book really resonated with me as a woman who grew up poor in the Rustbelt with a traumatized mother who always tried to make the best of it. Our timelines were different, but the desperation to forge an identity through music and culture to lift her up out of her circumstance hit home. A really beautiful book, I love her voice and hope to read more.

[maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

really disappointed in this one. it’s billed as a queer femme memoir and then it does not speak in any real depth about queerness until the last 10 pages. even then, it just barely barely touches on what it means to be a capital f femme and it fails to truly connect that with queerness. all of the relationships the author details are with cis het men and it barely, barely touches on her discovery of her queerness. it’s exhausting.

i had high hopes that i’d connect with this one being a femme lesbian who grew up in southern indiana, but alas.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easy, very engaging read. Parts of this bothered me, but for the most part this was a very well written account of this woman's life and how she grew up poor in Ohio, and how she became who she is now. I gave it 5 stars despite some of the teeny tiny bothersome parts. I read it in an afternoon.

[Cozy · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Annie Kostell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely gorgeous read that made me swell with pride for my city

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Pavithra · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The voice here was so unique. The author illuminated her own self-identity development and experience which was not the more pervasive urban and white collar one, but instead suburban/rural blue collar. This is a generational novel, showcasing an experience that is probably only familiar to younger LGBTQ readers. There is struggle here, but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the same as the struggles of LGBTQ Boomers, Generation X, or maybe even most Millenials. This is the Generation Z experience. And it is a revelation not only of a different experience, but how that experience has created a different outlook and a different set of priorities, too.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book Cherry thinks it is.

Remember Cherry? Couple of summers ago, novel written by a guy in jail, Nico Walker, who had been arrested for robbing banks around Northeast Ohio, mostly the East Side suburbs. A Buzzfeed editor picked up on an article about Walker, started a communication, convinced Walker to send some writing to him, then turned it into a novel. Though it was fiction, it was pretty much all true -- stories of how a listless life before and after the Army became the epitome of the opioid crisis which led into a life of crime. It was almost all true, though presented as a novel.

Now Spider-man (Tom Holland) is (was? Will be?) filming a movie about it in Cleveland. Not bad for a drug-addicted bank robber.

Maybe Raechel Anne Jolie should have fictionalized her story. Could have been a movie in the offing. Because she’s done the same thing that Cherry did, only better.

Hers is the story of growing up poor and listless in Ohio, only without the drugs. Plenty of tragedy and trauma, though. And it’s written as a series of vignettes, kind of connected but really only informing each other, much like Cherry. We go through her life, from when her father was nearly killed by a drunk driver in the family’s front yard to where she is now, living in Minnesota with a PhD and diagnosed with a type of PTSD. The book is her attempt to chronicle her trauma, to let others know what it’s like to live a life of near poverty, to try and mostly escape from it while others you care about don’t.

It focuses mostly on her school-age years, from just before kindergarten through high school. Its about how her family deals with the aftermath of her father’s debilitating accident -- he’s not killed, but incapacited for life from the accident -- but also about her friendships, her love life, her coming of age, her searching for meaning. And it’s about Cleveland; from Valley View to Lakewood to Coventry to finding fellow goths or punks or whatever scene you want to call it. She writes toward the conclusion that she’s spent more of her life away from Cleveland than she spent in it. But she still loves Cleveland, still visits regularly to see family, still has vivid memories of the Cedar-Lee, of music clubs, of the Centrum theater, of the various houses she lived in.

And it’s certainly depressing. How could a book with tragic accidents, evictions, family trauma, and molestation not be? But it’s also uplifting, as it’s a book about coming to terms with all of it and uplifting yourself. And she realizes her mother all along was trying to uplift her even though she might not have understood it at the time. Sound familiar?

Many will nod their heads in agreement while reading this. Yep, that’s me. Or yep, that could have been me. Or yep, I know people like this. And hopefully those who have no familiarity with it will empathize.

Because that’s what Jolie is after. Understanding and empathy. Apart from her own recovery, of course. Read it and find out. It’s not even 200 pages, so you can knock it out in an afternoon. Lord knows we have plenty of those free right now. Plus there’s a very cool playlist in the back that might be available online somewhere … eventually.

It’s not Cherry. It’s better. Call it Cherry with the cherry on top.

[Coley · Rating 5 out of 5]

”...I think most of us who are drawn to memoir are burdened with an incurable case of nostalgia.”

Jolie’s memoir,Rust Belt Femme, brings me to places I haven’t thought of in years. I am also a native of Cleveland; I grew up in the same small community and was also a part of the secret club. The one where my family played the shame roulette wheel of “will the power or phone be shut off this month?”

Cleveland, at its core, is known to be a powerful city. A city full of immigrants that are known to be resilient, that have for years been knocked down, no matter what the situation may be, and always come back and say, “We’ll do it again next year. Next year is our year.” I believe that Jolie takes this spirit, this resilience, into the core of her memoir, of her very being. Her start, her family’s start, is not a happy one. It’s not one built on money, but it’s built on pride and love and so much fucking resilience.

Jolie’s mother’s love for her - and her mother’s drive to be there for her in any way thatshe can through her life is strong and steadfast. There are potholes along the way that cause strong rifts but still allow her to love her mother, still allow those “good nights” to happen, no matter the circumstance.

”Let’s face it, we’re undone by one another. And if we’re not, we’re missing something.”

The stories of first and current and all the loves in between that Jolie writes about within this memoir gut me. They remind me of teen angst, of being young. Of my first crush, of my best friends and our stories. Of my husband. She weaves the stories of her best friends and their families; of their secrets and their summers together so effortlessly. The story of her first love and their subsequent break up is so well written that I find myself re-reading it more than once and then sitting alone afterwards, outside on my porch and just thinking about my own first love.

”Femme, in particular, was a version of femininity that was socially acceptable insofar as it was legible, but it was formed by the working poor, and it wasn’t for men.”

“A femme instinct to up the sex appeal to better spite the male gaze”

Jolie’s descriptions as to growing up and into her skin as femme and queer brings me to brand new perspectives in my life I didn’t know I needed and wanted.

Everyone should read this, especially if you enjoy memoirs and especially if you grew up in Cleveland. Jolie’s love letter to our fine city, one that isn’t for the inhabitants of homes with sprawling yards and 401K’s. But rather those that grew up in Slavic Village, Newburgh Heights, Parma, Coventry, and those tiny apartments...

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing about the music, politics, and the scene in Cleveland during the early 2000s really made me miss my teenage years and early 20s. I appreciate all the references to places that I would spend most of my free time sneaking off to while telling my parents I was at so-and-so's house instead. And it's refreshing that the author felt exactly the same way about Jill from the record store. I remember sitting around with my guy friends and listening to them drool over Jill. I developedstrong resentful feelings for a woman whose scene cred seemed so effortless. She was probably the nicest woman to us high school girls buying crappy records at that time too which makes you feel even shittier with feeling that way towards her. There were parts of this read that definitely felt like a trip down memory lane.
My biggest gripe is that I never considered Valley View rural. It's literally sandwiched between two suburbs. I guess it is rural. But maybe that's my misunderstanding of Northeast Ohio geography and class divisions due to my westside upbringing.

After reading this, I wish that my path would have crossed with Raechel at some point during those years. I feel like she was the friend that I needed, the friend that I wanted so desperately to have during those formative years.

Last comment. Please write about the hardcore, indie, punk, emo scene in more details from those years. Please.

[Joshua Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The best part about finding out who you are is the craving...” growing up in middle of nowhere Ohio I wasn’t aware of the real world, or many real struggles, until I was older. I wish I could have grown up, and found myself earlier in life, on Coventry similar to how Raechel does.
I love a style of writing that is intelligent without being arrogant. Raechel NAILS it. A book that makes you want to cry and also catches you off guard and makes you laugh, while your dog looks at you confused, is not easy to find but here it is. The story also contains insight into a beautiful, mostly supportive, family system that allowed the author to become who she is. She is not shy about expressing how she’s become this adult and this level of awareness is inspiring. It’s extremely relatable in many ways, similar age helps here for sure and things are obviously much different for me as a cis male, but I think it’s extremely important to understand things from a different set of eyes. If your heart doesn’t break from some of these experiences that are boldly shared in these pages then you are not human.

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent memoir from Raechel Anne Jolie detailing her life in Ohio and beyond. I found it informative and interesting throughout. I was particularly saddened to learn about the Irish immigrant canal workers and the dreadful conditions they endured. Heartbreaking to think of them, and the indigenous people, kept beneath the white folks both literally and figuratively. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. And I'm glad to know it's not just me with the Jeremy Irons thing! As Raechel says herself, this memoir more than satisfied my need for nostalgia. There is so much humanity in this book; so many people just doing the best that they can to get by. So many people trying to forge their own identities. Themes include love, relationships, poverty, politics, activism and queer culture. I've re-read many passages and highlighted them to read again. I loved every word and found it incredibly inspiring. Major kudos for the mixtape at the end! What a wonderful way to start 2020! 

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't normally write reviews, but I kept seeing buzz around this book and I was excited to read it. While reading, I sometimes got distracted by the many many details and references. Sometimes it also felt like Jolie was trying too hard to make connections (like the bees chapter, which probably didn't need to be included, and the repeat reference to fireflies). These big life events and traumatic incidents would be foreshadowed in early chapters, but then they weren't given much space to breath as they actually unfolded, which made the book feel a bit crammed with small events and tons of references to people that shaped Jolie but dulled the emotional and overall impact of the book on me. As others mentioned, the non-linear structure did feel jarring at times and it ended somewhat abruptly, but it has more than a few examples of beautiful prose and it made me feel nostalgic as I grew up just ahead of Jolie and in the same region.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Belt Publishing for the ARC.
I found this memoir to be honest and open, and despite my own fairly different background there was lots to empathise with. The mentions of music, in particular, were visceral - I found myself stopping reading to go and find the appropriate soundtrack multiple times. It's definitely reiterated my 2020 mission to go to more gigs.
I found the writing style quite disorientating however - I'm a big fan of a non-linear narrative, but this wasn't that. The narrative itself was mostly chronological, however the loose use and swapping of tenses dragged me out of the book a few times.
I found the sections where Raechel is older to be most engaging - particularly the Food Not Bombs sections - and would have liked to have read more of this.

[Ndobe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its weird because I quite enjoyed this book in the front half, but the back half felt like it was very rushed? One of the few times I think I would have preferred a longer book, since it feels like the author had to struggle to fit her words and experiences in the second half due to running out of space.