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How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn
A madcap adventure through a tight-knit world of drag performers making art and mayhem in the greatest city on earth.
Ten years ago, an aimless coat check girl better known today as Merrie Cherry sweet-talked her boss into giving her $100 to host a drag show at a Brooklyn dive bar. Soon, kids like Aja were kicking their way into the scene, sneaking into clubs, pocketing their tips to help mom pay the mortgage, and sharing the stage with electric performers like Thorgy Thor and Sasha Velour. Because suddenly, in the biggest, brightest city in America, drag was offering young, broke, creative queer people a chance at real money—and for thousands or even millions of people to learn their names.
In How You Get Famous , journalist Nicole Pasulka joyfully documents the rebirth of the New York drag scene, following a group of iconoclastic performers with undeniable charisma, talent, and a hell of a lot to prove. The result is a sweeping portrait of the 21st-century search for celebrity and community, as well as a chronicle of all the struggles, fights, and disappointments along the way. A rollicking account of the quest to make a living through an art form on the cusp of becoming a cultural phenomenon, How You Get Famous offers an unmissable romp through the gritty and glamorous world of Brooklyn drag.
Ten years ago, an aimless coat check girl better known today as Merrie Cherry sweet-talked her boss into giving her $100 to host a drag show at a Brooklyn dive bar. Soon, kids like Aja were kicking their way into the scene, sneaking into clubs, pocketing their tips to help mom pay the mortgage, and sharing the stage with electric performers like Thorgy Thor and Sasha Velour. Because suddenly, in the biggest, brightest city in America, drag was offering young, broke, creative queer people a chance at real money—and for thousands or even millions of people to learn their names.
In How You Get Famous , journalist Nicole Pasulka joyfully documents the rebirth of the New York drag scene, following a group of iconoclastic performers with undeniable charisma, talent, and a hell of a lot to prove. The result is a sweeping portrait of the 21st-century search for celebrity and community, as well as a chronicle of all the struggles, fights, and disappointments along the way. A rollicking account of the quest to make a living through an art form on the cusp of becoming a cultural phenomenon, How You Get Famous offers an unmissable romp through the gritty and glamorous world of Brooklyn drag.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 7, 2022
18 people are currently reading
4301 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Pasulka
1 book12 followersNicole Pasulka writes about gender, activism, and criminal justice for publications such as New York, Harper’s, Mother Jones, VICE, and The Believer. The recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships, her writing has been anthologized in the Best American series and featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. How You Get Famous, a nonfiction recent history of the Brooklyn drag scene, is her first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
July 12, 2022
In How You Get Famous, Nicole Pasulka dives into the birth of Brooklyn drag and its intersections - and discontents - with RuPaul's Drag Race.
In the early 2010s Merrie Cherry was born in a dingy bar - Metropolitan - in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Meanwhile Aja was jumping subway turnstiles to get to her gigs and Thorgy Thor was bringing the edgy and freaking to Manhattan. Each were contributing in their own way to something bigger: an edgier, scrappier, and more deeply interesting version of drag that fucked with gender and did away with the old school ways of doing drag. The years that followed in that decade saw the introduction of numerous new Brooklyn drag queens and a genre of the art form that has gone from the margins to the mainstream as Brooklyn queens such as Sasha Velour find their spotlight.
I first moved to Brooklyn in 2013 and quickly found myself ensconced in the queer nightlife scenes that had cropped up around the borough: this is why I was so excited to read this book. But How You Get Famous let me down because of the far, far too much space and time given to discussing RuPaul's Drag Race. I wish - so deeply - that Pasulka had spent time centering the many queens that made names for themselves in forums other than RPDR. And though the book does mention these queens and their spaces and fans in passing, this book is really a book about Aja, Thorgy Thor, Sasha Velour, and the other "Ru Girls." I am glad Merrie Cherry - the Grand Dame of Brooklyn Drag - was centered, but I was sad to see so many queens relegated to the margins or just simply left out. For the Drag Race fans this book will be fun but for those of us who came of age in the 2010s Brooklyn queer spaces, this book does not suffice.
In the early 2010s Merrie Cherry was born in a dingy bar - Metropolitan - in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Meanwhile Aja was jumping subway turnstiles to get to her gigs and Thorgy Thor was bringing the edgy and freaking to Manhattan. Each were contributing in their own way to something bigger: an edgier, scrappier, and more deeply interesting version of drag that fucked with gender and did away with the old school ways of doing drag. The years that followed in that decade saw the introduction of numerous new Brooklyn drag queens and a genre of the art form that has gone from the margins to the mainstream as Brooklyn queens such as Sasha Velour find their spotlight.
I first moved to Brooklyn in 2013 and quickly found myself ensconced in the queer nightlife scenes that had cropped up around the borough: this is why I was so excited to read this book. But How You Get Famous let me down because of the far, far too much space and time given to discussing RuPaul's Drag Race. I wish - so deeply - that Pasulka had spent time centering the many queens that made names for themselves in forums other than RPDR. And though the book does mention these queens and their spaces and fans in passing, this book is really a book about Aja, Thorgy Thor, Sasha Velour, and the other "Ru Girls." I am glad Merrie Cherry - the Grand Dame of Brooklyn Drag - was centered, but I was sad to see so many queens relegated to the margins or just simply left out. For the Drag Race fans this book will be fun but for those of us who came of age in the 2010s Brooklyn queer spaces, this book does not suffice.
June 26, 2022
This book gives an overview of the Brooklyn drag scene, from the Brooklyn clubs to the stages of Drag Race and back again. There's a lot of great content in here, pulled from interviews with a lot of queens. I loved how it helped me get to know some great queens better like Aja and Sasha Valour.
However, I thought this was pretty hard to read. The writing is kind of scattered - jumping back and forth between people and contexts. One chapter kept jumping between the 21st century drag scene and 1920 Prohibition era drag-type performances and I struggled to even know which time certain sentences were talking about. I think that this is just missing the kind of transitions and commentary that guide the reader through.
I think there's a great story here about how the Brooklyn drag scene is distinct; about how Drag Race and Ru-empire have changed the world of drag; and the new interconnections between Ru's empire and the Brooklyn scene. However, I think a lot of this storytelling gets lots -- the author is so far into the weeds providing details of certain moments that the bigger picture is hard to sort through.
This book tackles important issues like trans and gender inclusivity in drag through Sasha and Aja's stories; about the commodification of drag and pressure of continuing to produce new things to sell after being on drag race; about the overly edited nature of Drag Race and who is being selected and who is being excluded, etc. etc. However, I think there are also some questionable choices of included comment (e.g. quoting a racist statement by Thorgy Thor instead of just acknowledging that she made a racist slur).
Overall, there were gems in this book, but it was really hard to read as a whole. I'd love to have seen a more edited version of this released to really hone in on that readability and storytelling power that's here.
2.5 ⭐️
However, I thought this was pretty hard to read. The writing is kind of scattered - jumping back and forth between people and contexts. One chapter kept jumping between the 21st century drag scene and 1920 Prohibition era drag-type performances and I struggled to even know which time certain sentences were talking about. I think that this is just missing the kind of transitions and commentary that guide the reader through.
I think there's a great story here about how the Brooklyn drag scene is distinct; about how Drag Race and Ru-empire have changed the world of drag; and the new interconnections between Ru's empire and the Brooklyn scene. However, I think a lot of this storytelling gets lots -- the author is so far into the weeds providing details of certain moments that the bigger picture is hard to sort through.
This book tackles important issues like trans and gender inclusivity in drag through Sasha and Aja's stories; about the commodification of drag and pressure of continuing to produce new things to sell after being on drag race; about the overly edited nature of Drag Race and who is being selected and who is being excluded, etc. etc. However, I think there are also some questionable choices of included comment (e.g. quoting a racist statement by Thorgy Thor instead of just acknowledging that she made a racist slur).
Overall, there were gems in this book, but it was really hard to read as a whole. I'd love to have seen a more edited version of this released to really hone in on that readability and storytelling power that's here.
2.5 ⭐️
February 24, 2024
I’ve never seen a drag show. I know very little about drag. However, this was amazing. Loved hearing from all the different queens and the camp honestly sounds amazing.
August 9, 2022
Fantastic journalism on the drag scene of Brooklyn, Pasulka did a really stellar job of bringing the queens’ narratives and voices to the page.
February 2, 2023
Voyeuristic and sanitizing writing tone killed any possible emotional connection to the people in the stories, and there wasn’t a lot of juice in the squeeze to begin with. Spent way too many pages waxing about RPDR when there was so much opportunity to dive into deeper experiences. Strange images choices in beginning of the book-no photos of people the book focused on and then some randos that were barely (if at all) mentioned. Would work much better as a documentary with the performers telling their own stories. There is no joy in this writing
January 28, 2023
I had read Alexander Chee’s review of this in the NYTimes a few months ago and was excited to read some literary journalism that was more fun. I think this book about Brooklyn Drag in the early aughts and how it transformed into a bigger, more flashy, more political scene—particularly as RuPaul’s Drag Race got more famous—was just the thing.
Pasulka bookends the story with Aja, a young Queen who begins dressing in drag as a teen-ager and who later establishes herself in the wider Brooklyn, and global, scene. The book acts like a mini anthology of drag with very small tangents into the history of drag and other LGBTQ+ histories around the country. Pasulka does a great job at showing how RuPaul’s show completely upended drag in both incredible and awful ways, and how as people became more knowledgeable of gender and expression, commericially palatable drag had to reckon with its transphobic messages of CIS men performing hyper-feminine characters. I loved getting to know all of the Queens and searching them up on Instagram.
I really slogged through it in the end, though. I wish Pasulka had integrated more voice-work—either her own narrative style or more of that of the Queens she followed around. The writing style read too much like a very stiff, objective voyeur rather than a person who self-identified as being raised in the same scene she wrote about. It made me realize why writers like Matthew Desmond, who wrote “Evicted,” are especially lauded for their ability to teeter on that edge of journalist and human being.
Pasulka bookends the story with Aja, a young Queen who begins dressing in drag as a teen-ager and who later establishes herself in the wider Brooklyn, and global, scene. The book acts like a mini anthology of drag with very small tangents into the history of drag and other LGBTQ+ histories around the country. Pasulka does a great job at showing how RuPaul’s show completely upended drag in both incredible and awful ways, and how as people became more knowledgeable of gender and expression, commericially palatable drag had to reckon with its transphobic messages of CIS men performing hyper-feminine characters. I loved getting to know all of the Queens and searching them up on Instagram.
I really slogged through it in the end, though. I wish Pasulka had integrated more voice-work—either her own narrative style or more of that of the Queens she followed around. The writing style read too much like a very stiff, objective voyeur rather than a person who self-identified as being raised in the same scene she wrote about. It made me realize why writers like Matthew Desmond, who wrote “Evicted,” are especially lauded for their ability to teeter on that edge of journalist and human being.
March 30, 2023
I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this book and I’m glad that I went in with no expectations. It left me pleasantly surprised.
I’ve learned over my months/years of book reading that I like nonfiction that’s written with the intention of telling some kind of history. And this book, is telling the rich history of the drag boom that happened in Brooklyn, and who the key queens and players were. The pictures at the front of the book make it clear that heavy hitters, and gay famous celeb queens, like Sasha Velour, Aja, and Thorgy Thor will be a big part of the books narrative. But I was so pleasantly surprised at how inclusive, and oftentimes critical the book was of the Rupaul’s Drag Race machine. At once acknowledging how it has catapulted drag queens to the mainstream, while also being critical of the fact that one person’s sole opinion on drag often influences the ideal drag aesthetics. At once it’s a cultural commentary, historical text, and just good fun.
I loved reading about all of the trailblazing queens from Brooklyn who found large success both on and off RPDR. The book is very engaging, telling the glamorous and not so glamorous story of how drag, specifically Brooklyn drag came to be so recognizable and iconic. I recommend this to any person who has a deep love for the art form of drag. It was very lovely. 4 stars.
I’ve learned over my months/years of book reading that I like nonfiction that’s written with the intention of telling some kind of history. And this book, is telling the rich history of the drag boom that happened in Brooklyn, and who the key queens and players were. The pictures at the front of the book make it clear that heavy hitters, and gay famous celeb queens, like Sasha Velour, Aja, and Thorgy Thor will be a big part of the books narrative. But I was so pleasantly surprised at how inclusive, and oftentimes critical the book was of the Rupaul’s Drag Race machine. At once acknowledging how it has catapulted drag queens to the mainstream, while also being critical of the fact that one person’s sole opinion on drag often influences the ideal drag aesthetics. At once it’s a cultural commentary, historical text, and just good fun.
I loved reading about all of the trailblazing queens from Brooklyn who found large success both on and off RPDR. The book is very engaging, telling the glamorous and not so glamorous story of how drag, specifically Brooklyn drag came to be so recognizable and iconic. I recommend this to any person who has a deep love for the art form of drag. It was very lovely. 4 stars.
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August 17, 2022A good (if pretty uncritical) history of the Brooklyn Drag Scene in the 2010s. It's a quick read and the access that Pasulka is able to get is pretty great --- lots of tea about queens that only their good judys could possibly know --- but it doesn't amount to all that much in the end. I found myself wishing for more of a point of view from the book --- more developed than "drag rules." Especially as the money rolls in and BK drag moves from underground to some-what mainstream, I wanted to see some dialogue with the contradictions of that. Some of the more critical voices in BK --- I'm thinking specifically of Charlene Incarnate --- aren't platformed as much as the cheerleaders. Specifically, I think there's a lack of criticism and dialogue around Drag Race. The basic criticisms are mentioned (trans women banned, edited for drama, etc) but not deepened and, in general, there aren't that many trans voices in the book.
All the being said, I had a great time and do recommend it to fans of drag. It's just frustrating to see a history this comprehensive toe the line of contemporary thought on the industry instead of striving to dig deeper and develop a real perspective on where drag is now and how it got there.
All the being said, I had a great time and do recommend it to fans of drag. It's just frustrating to see a history this comprehensive toe the line of contemporary thought on the industry instead of striving to dig deeper and develop a real perspective on where drag is now and how it got there.
February 15, 2024
I fell in love with the premise of How You Get Famous, a Brooklyn centered piece that tackles the resurgence in drag popularity over the past decade.
However, instead of getting well researched queer enthnographic text, it felt like Pasulka recreated gaps in the archival history of drag versus filling in those gaps. My main critique is the excessive coverage of RuPaul Drag Queens and Queens that have specifically reached mainstream acclaim. Yes, the piece is titled "How You Get Famous" but how is it about a decade of Drag when it barely acknowledges the alternative styles within it. Further than that, Pasulka mentions transfemme, transmasc and nonbinary drag queens as ideas but barely engages with any Queens or Kings that fit that narrative.
My second critique is the structuring of the piece. It has a rather narrative format, but no clear voice. It leaves How You Get Famous feeling sterile and underwhelming. I wish we got to hear more of the queens own words, and perhaps hear the questions Pasulka asked in the interviews.
Up next on my TBR is Decolonize Drag, so I am excited to see how these pieces might be in conversation.
However, instead of getting well researched queer enthnographic text, it felt like Pasulka recreated gaps in the archival history of drag versus filling in those gaps. My main critique is the excessive coverage of RuPaul Drag Queens and Queens that have specifically reached mainstream acclaim. Yes, the piece is titled "How You Get Famous" but how is it about a decade of Drag when it barely acknowledges the alternative styles within it. Further than that, Pasulka mentions transfemme, transmasc and nonbinary drag queens as ideas but barely engages with any Queens or Kings that fit that narrative.
My second critique is the structuring of the piece. It has a rather narrative format, but no clear voice. It leaves How You Get Famous feeling sterile and underwhelming. I wish we got to hear more of the queens own words, and perhaps hear the questions Pasulka asked in the interviews.
Up next on my TBR is Decolonize Drag, so I am excited to see how these pieces might be in conversation.
June 12, 2022
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-ARC! How You Get Famous is a historical account of Brooklyn drag within the past 10 years. The first half was fascinating, touching on origins of now popular drag queens and the beginning of the impactful RuPaul’s Drag Race era. It was interesting to learn about how a lot of these popular drag artists were intertwined in their scenes and how the accessibility of Drag Race put a lot of drag queens on the map. While I really enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half felt a little dragged out (pun not intended). Part two had some overly descriptive recaps of performances and events from the Drag Race show that were a bit redundant. One thing I was glad to see mentioned was the commodification of drag and how commercialized it became due to the Drag Race’s rise to more mainstream media. Overall, this was a pretty solid read perfect for long time drag super fans and newbies alike.
May 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. I am casually familiar with drag, both as a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, and as an occasional attendee at local drag shows. I did not know much about the Brooklyn drag scene, but I recognized a few key players in Brooklyn drag who are featured in this book, such as Thorgy Thor, the former Haus of Aja, and Sasha Velour, as they were contestants on Drag Race. I enjoyed gaining a better picture of how this constellation of queens and other nightlife legends fit together through this account of the history of Brooklyn's gritty and glamorous drag scene. How You Get Famous follows the origins of contemporary Brooklyn drag as a scrappy subculture to a major force both in the drag scene and in the wider culture. This story--and this scene--are edgy, dramatic, a little messy, and joyful.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 8, 2022
Even though this book started out strong, and ended with a bit of a fizzle, Pasulka still managed to keep my eyes glued to the pages.
As a retelling of the rebirth of drag in underground Brooklyn, it made me realize I had no clue that drag ever really went dormant.
Following a group of performers as they tried to find their own versions of stardom, I was quickly pulled in to each storyline that was seamlessly woven together. But with a bit of skepticism as I thought the original intent of the book veered off course, it all made sense in the end.
The recapturing of events, from the energetic performances and lurid nightlife, let me experience the original grittiness of the now overly-televised world that drag has become, and how different I believed it to still be.
As a retelling of the rebirth of drag in underground Brooklyn, it made me realize I had no clue that drag ever really went dormant.
Following a group of performers as they tried to find their own versions of stardom, I was quickly pulled in to each storyline that was seamlessly woven together. But with a bit of skepticism as I thought the original intent of the book veered off course, it all made sense in the end.
The recapturing of events, from the energetic performances and lurid nightlife, let me experience the original grittiness of the now overly-televised world that drag has become, and how different I believed it to still be.
June 13, 2022
A well-researched, thoroughly entertaining read.
I've been a fan of Pasulka's for years, and whether she's writing about the historical connections between lesbians and cats (google it) or the "Stonewall" that no one knows about (google that, too!), she always combines top-shelf storyteller with wit, verve, and care.
It was fascinating to learn about the ins and outs of Brooklyn's drag scene -- of which I knew nothing about. I'm also a sucker for a hardscrabble narrative about queers making it on their own terms, and this book delivers on that front, too.
As Pasulka writes [about drag, but it could also very well describe the spirit of the book], It's "a reminder that we can be anything--at least for a few minutes--and we can be celebrated for it."
I've been a fan of Pasulka's for years, and whether she's writing about the historical connections between lesbians and cats (google it) or the "Stonewall" that no one knows about (google that, too!), she always combines top-shelf storyteller with wit, verve, and care.
It was fascinating to learn about the ins and outs of Brooklyn's drag scene -- of which I knew nothing about. I'm also a sucker for a hardscrabble narrative about queers making it on their own terms, and this book delivers on that front, too.
As Pasulka writes [about drag, but it could also very well describe the spirit of the book], It's "a reminder that we can be anything--at least for a few minutes--and we can be celebrated for it."
June 27, 2022
An entertaining, quick read that caught me up on a scene whose rise I missed for geographical and personal reasons. My reception of the book was probably helped by the fact that I did my own debut drag performance on Saturday night, right before I started reading it.
As I read it, however, I realized that the book was superficially skimming a deeper store about how the Brooklyn drag scene of the last decade relates to gentrification, and to culture industry recuperation of the avant-garde. Ultimately the book is written more as long-form fan journalism than as history, and such fan journalism requires access to the artist which might be compromised by a more sociologically critical study.
As I read it, however, I realized that the book was superficially skimming a deeper store about how the Brooklyn drag scene of the last decade relates to gentrification, and to culture industry recuperation of the avant-garde. Ultimately the book is written more as long-form fan journalism than as history, and such fan journalism requires access to the artist which might be compromised by a more sociologically critical study.
July 31, 2022
This book is such an inspiration to me. Pasulka is a fabulous writer who can make the retelling of a night out ten years ago entertaining. She crafts the journeys of Brooklyn queens with so much heart. Queens like Aja and Sasha Velour I thought I was familiar with from watching Drag Race; but this book goes way, way beyond mirror talk, sharing their origins, fears, ambitions, into the present. I appreciated how she offers balanced cultural critiques of Drag Race, Manhattan drag, and what it means to be "successful" in drag, by leaning into these relationships she's built with drag queens, kings, and the whole community. It's rare that a non-fiction book can be this inspiring, entertaining, and personable.
October 11, 2022
An okay, sometimes frustrating book that serves as a reminder that members of a community will always do it better (Wigstock, community podcasts, etc). Talking to members of the community, it seems like this book is a bit of a sore subject because of it’s narrow lens.
The main subjects of the book are all reality tv contestants, with large swaths of text dedicated to outlining the events of these shows.
What this book does successfully is make a portrait of a new, queer iteration of fame based off of this recent drag boom.
Also, it made me realize just how deserving these and other untold stories are and that we could be facing a giant loss if this queer art form isn’t documented and saved.
The main subjects of the book are all reality tv contestants, with large swaths of text dedicated to outlining the events of these shows.
What this book does successfully is make a portrait of a new, queer iteration of fame based off of this recent drag boom.
Also, it made me realize just how deserving these and other untold stories are and that we could be facing a giant loss if this queer art form isn’t documented and saved.
March 22, 2023
Honestly this lacked race and class analysis. There were really really fucked up racist jokes quoted that did not need repeating, because they never should have been said in the first place.
It felt like the author used the COVID lockdown to “research” by reading through Brooklyn drag queens’ social media accounts and quoting their Facebook and Instagram posts. It also felt like the author never went to any queer events that weren’t in Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Manhattan.
2.5 stars because it did draw me in a little bit, but I didn’t feel super great while reading it and could have skipped half the book and wouldn’t have missed anything.
It felt like the author used the COVID lockdown to “research” by reading through Brooklyn drag queens’ social media accounts and quoting their Facebook and Instagram posts. It also felt like the author never went to any queer events that weren’t in Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Manhattan.
2.5 stars because it did draw me in a little bit, but I didn’t feel super great while reading it and could have skipped half the book and wouldn’t have missed anything.
November 17, 2022
If you haven’t ever seen RuPaul’s Drag Race (I’ve been watching since that first, Vaseline on the camera lens first season), then I’m not sure this book will be all that interesting. There is some behind the scenes scoop - but that’s not what this book is about, so don’t start this expecting a scandalous tell-all. Truly, it’s following several queens as they journey through Brooklyn drag, some of them to international fame. It’s an enjoyable read, a slice in time, and I think a bit of a journalistic feat.
November 13, 2023
Serves as a solid summary of the modern Brooklyn drag scene, but felt devoid of any real thread that ties the stories together and gives it meaning. My biggest issue was the spotlight centered on RPDR. Of course the show had a major impact on drag’s popularity, but even the critiques of Drag Race took up too much time when more words could be devoted to alternative programs like Dragula.
I think this is a good read for anyone wanting to know more about New York drag, but to get to the “heart” I recommend going to the source and engaging in content made by drag performers.
I think this is a good read for anyone wanting to know more about New York drag, but to get to the “heart” I recommend going to the source and engaging in content made by drag performers.
June 30, 2022
An overview of the past ten years of the four most infamous drag queens in Brooklyn, NY.
This book shares the upbringing, details, and careers of Aja, Thorgy Thor, Merrie Cherry, and Sasha Velour.
Overall, drag is hard, competitive, and grueling. Only the strong persevere.
Good quick read to end Pride Month on. Worth the read if you have any interest in the tenacity of drag or RuPaul’s movement in the last 10 years.
Happy Pride Month—— ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book shares the upbringing, details, and careers of Aja, Thorgy Thor, Merrie Cherry, and Sasha Velour.
Overall, drag is hard, competitive, and grueling. Only the strong persevere.
Good quick read to end Pride Month on. Worth the read if you have any interest in the tenacity of drag or RuPaul’s movement in the last 10 years.
Happy Pride Month—— ⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 28, 2022
I learned a lot from this book— as a RPDR fan since middle school, this book added so much dimension to some of the most recognizable drag queens from BK who made it to the show. It also highlights drag queens and their careers that didn’t make it on the show, adding a fresh perspective to drag that doesn’t make it so much on mainstream media. And what’s even cooler is that a lot of the locations of queer drag history happened right around the corner from where I live now! Loved.
January 10, 2023
Groundbreaking about drag? Not really. BUT it is a fun and interesting read about the Brooklyn drag scene, how various queens got into drag and worked on their art, and how RuPaul's Drag Race really impacted the scene and culture of drag. I'm guilty of mostly being a RPDR fan without being super into the local culture and knowing more about what happens outside the show, so I was glad to read this and learn more!
November 15, 2024
A really cool and at times very inspiring oral history about an American artistic movement/subculture occurring during the’10s (drag!). What I really loved about this book is how it chronicles -essentially- niche artists whose influence ripple across and beyond the scenes they originate from. A lot of these artists would not have been known without this chronicling of their work. My issue is that the order of this book makes very little sense, it follows characters until it doesn’t, it documents the scene in chronological order until it doesn’t. And how the second part of the book covers the RPDR tv show at a depth I find unnecessary, with recaps and at times redundant because of how infiltrative the tv show has been.
Loved the book . Very cool and I’m happy it exists
Loved the book . Very cool and I’m happy it exists
July 20, 2022
I feel about the book the same way I feel about the queens in it - Eh. With the exception of Sasha Velour, who I enjoyed and rooted for, none of the other queens were ever my favorites on Drag Race. Interesting to get the history and back story, but it didn't make me want to go to Brooklyn to see a drag show. If kinda felt like the author was mad at everybody.
December 22, 2022
Highly recommend the audiobook! This is such a magnificent record of important drag history, especially in Brooklyn. It’s complex and colorful, and the author had such incredible access to the queens who made drag what it is. I loved hearing about their journeys into the drag world and beyond. It was a fantastic read.
March 2, 2023
A compelling primer on Brooklyn drag most successful at the edges of Ru’s empire—before getting on the show and looking at the aftermath of
maintaining a career post-reality tv stardom. Less essential in its writing about the time on the show itself. And I would have craved a few more non-RPDR queens to balance out focus of book. Still a fun read for drag fans.
maintaining a career post-reality tv stardom. Less essential in its writing about the time on the show itself. And I would have craved a few more non-RPDR queens to balance out focus of book. Still a fun read for drag fans.
August 18, 2022
There is so much to love about this book. It’s fun, it’s educational, it’s sweet and detailed. The pacing and structure both feel off to me, but for a while, at least, I found it quite suspenseful. I enjoyed it.
November 29, 2022
I had a lot of fun reading about the queens I already knew and loved and was glad to learn about other queens that were so influential, but the formatting of this book was a bit confusing and the writing could be really dry for what should be a very exciting topic.
December 24, 2022
A fun, quick read about the rise of drag in Brooklyn. Fun discussions of some of the Drag Race girls (Aja, Thorgy Thor, Sasha Velour, etc.), Bushwig, and Merrie Cherry, the self-styled drag "mother of Brooklyn."
January 21, 2024
Few places are home to both the most experimental corners of the drag world and the most professional. Brooklyn drag is at once amateurish and world-class, and in this way it serves as a microcosm of the art form. Drag is, of course, not one thing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews