Happy book birthday to WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH edited by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee, published this week with Greystone Books!
From the publisher: “Through the voices of twelve diverse writers, Whatever Gets You Through offers a powerful look at the narrative of sexual assault not covered by the headlines—the weeks, months, and years of survival and adaptation that people live through in its aftermath. With a foreword by Jessica Valenti, an extensive introduction by editors Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee, and contributions from acclaimed literary voices such as Alicia Elliott, Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Heather O’Neill, and Juliane Okot Bitek, the collection explores some of the many different forms that survival can take.”
Pre-publication Praise
“[The collection] challenges even readers familiar with sexual violence narratives in their assumptions about what survivors need…these thoughtful writers elevate resilience and endurance above a sanitized, oversimplified recovery narrative.”
—Publishers Weekly
“These writers’ prose and generosity are nothing short of profound.”
—Booklist, starred review
“The editors…have chosen a dozen voices for this survivors’ chorus. Each of these voices is unique, and none seem tempted by the saccharine truisms of pop psychology or TV versions of ‘redemptive recovery.’ They all tell their own difficult truths in memorable language.”
—Vancouver Sun
“One of the stunning elements of Whatever Gets You Through is the theme that survivorhood is multi-faceted, contradictory, and individual…the book doesn’t offer a cure, because it acknowledges that one doesn’t exist.”
—Loose Lips Magazine
“It’s not possible to cure survivorhood, not as an individual and not as a culture. Nor, this collection argues, should we, because it can be a powerful source of creativity and power.”
—Quill & Quire
“Whatever Gets You Through is a salve, a soothing whisper, and a necessary roundhouse kick to the worst of rape culture. These texts are a varied, imaginative, and essential addition to survivor literature.”
—Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People
“These essays remind us that survival, like the Me Too movement itself, is an arduous yet inspiring process—because it’s thrilling when so many resonant voices, unheard for so long, are emboldened to speak their truth at once.”
—Lynn Coady, author of Hellgoing