Description

SEMI-FINALIST FOR THE 2023 THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR A fiery cultural critique. Kirkus Reviews a powerful, beautifully written, and utterly important York Journal of Books

Hysterical is staggeringly good. This is one of the most intelligent, painful, ridiculous, awesome, relevant things Ive ever read. -Roxane Gay

an impressive debut. Elissa Bassist wrote it like a motherfucker.-Cheryl Strayed

Acclaimed humor writer Elissa Bassist shares her journey to reclaim her authentic voice in a culture that doesnt listen to women in this medical mystery, cultural criticism, and rallying cry.

Between 2016 and 2018, Elissa Bassist saw over twenty medical professionals for a variety of mysterious ailments. She had what millions of American women had: pain that didnt make sense to doctors, a body that didnt make sense to science, and a psyche that didnt make sense to mankind. Then an acupuncturist suggested that some of her physical pain could be caged fury finding expression, and that treating her voice would treat the problem.

It did.

Growing up, Bassists family, boyfriends, school, work, and television shows had the same expectation for a womans voice: less is more. She was called dramatic and insane for speaking her mind. She was accused of overreacting and playing victim for having unexplained physical pain. She was ignored or rebuked (like so many women throughout history) for using her voice inappropriately by expressing sadness or suffering or anger or joy. Because of this, she said yes when she meant no; she didnt tweet #MeToo; and she never spoke without fear of being too emotional. She felt rage, but like a good woman, she repressed it.

In her witty and incisive debut, Bassist explains how girls and women internalize and perpetuate directives about their voices, making it hard to just speak up and burn down the patriarchy. But then their silence hurts them more than anything they could ever say. Hysterical is a memoir of a voice lost and found, a primer on new ways to think about a womans voiceabout where its being squashed and where it needs amplificationand a clarion call for readers to unmute their voice, listen to it above all others, and use it again without regret.

Author: Elissa Bassist
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 09/13/2022
Pages: 256
Weight: 1lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780306827372
Language: English