RUST BELT FEMME proves just how important childhood events are in the formation of the adult we will become. Because of this, every new morsel of information was eagerly awaited and Raechel did not disappoint. 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. RUST BELT FEMME has authenticity in spades. Authenticity is (or should be) the goal of all memoir/auto-biographical authors. Why does this happen? I believe one word can sum up why a memoir either succeeds or fails that word is AUTHENTICITY. A memoir can be written with lyrical prose of the very best kind and yet still be a flop with its intended readers. Raechel was raised in a blue collar home and the language she often uses in her book reflects that fact. I have read reviews referring to the sometimes crude language she uses as inappropriate, but I have to disagree with that assessment. Raechel’s candor is refreshing, and as such, her personality shines through with every word she writes. 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. “In between and now are Northeast Ohio landmarks that left scars, sometimes like kisses and sometimes like razor blades.” Every bit of it turned me into the queer femme feminist writer I am today…”

“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. 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. It was the early 90s, full of Nirvana songs and chokers, flannel shirts and cut-off jean shorts, lesbian witches and local coffee shops. 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. Raechel and her mother struggled for money: they were evicted, went days without utilities, and took their trauma out on one another. 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.Īfter 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. Genre: NON-FICTION, BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS, LGBTQ

Rust Belt Femme by Raechel Anne Jolie