Rating: 
Summary: A true classic!
Review: I first discovered Stone Butch Blues in college, and it was one of those transformative books that changed the way I looked at myself and the world around me. Leslie Feinberg, in hir life and hir work, gracefully hands us a slice of history, and explores the intersection of butch/femme culture in the 1950s and the way gender touches all of our lives and relationships. Deeply moving, true to life and full of love and triumph, this book is a true classic. It should be required reading for anyone interested in lesbian lives.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely compelling... one of my favorites!
Review: I first read Stone Butch Blues in 1993, and was completely blown away. Eight years later, the emotion and complexity remain with me. One cannot come away from this book unchanged. Powerful, provocative, and deeply moving. A classic.Leslie Feinberg weaves a fictionalized autobiography through the story of Jess Goldberg. At the intersection of gender, sexual orientation, and class we find Jess. Growing up in upstate New York, Jess struggles with gender identity. Leaving a difficult home life, Jess stumbles upon the the underground butch/femme lesbian bar world, and finds a place as a stone butch. The need to earn a living leads Jess to blue-collar factory jobs, where passing as a man provides increased job security. We join Jess on her turbulent (and sometimes violent) roller coaster ride through life. Yet Jess survives, even triumphs, and the journey to Jess's self-actualization becomes a part of the reader. Set in the 1950s-1970s, this book contains a glimpse of lives and struggles that are too often forgotten or unknown. A crash course in the complexity of the human condition.
Rating:
Summary: The sad life of a butch
Review: I found Stone Butch Blues to be a truly amazing novel; I too had a hard time putting it down. As a heterosexual male from the SF Bay Area, I have been exposed to homosexuals, but have never really been "behind the scenes" of the struggle for gender equality. Stone Butch Blues was a gripping and consistently sad account of the life of a tough yet sensitive "butch" and I learned quite a bit from it.
Jess definitely had to "walk a difficult path" in life as was prophecized early on by her neighbors and caretakers. The ever present emotional and physical struggles involved in Jess' life were heartbreaking and most of the time she found herself "drowning in loneliness." It is interesting to read the literary talent on display when Feinberg describes the first time Jess sees Rocco, or Jess' first dance, or when she asks Theresa to marry her. Feinberg has the ability to clearly describe these characters, create memorable scenes, and simultaneously lift your heart rate.
I thoroughly enjoyed this eye and mind opening book and in the process gained an insight that formerly didn't exist.
Rating:
Summary: Our Destiny set in STONE
Review: I found this book to be deeply moving. The circle goes unbroken to this day. As a young butch in the 90's I find myself in similar situations as Jess. Though I know they are not as extreme as what use to be, they hurt just as deeply. Someday there may be an alternative to Stone Survival - the only way we know.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have never read a book that has touched me to the core. From the moment I read the letter to Theresa to the end I could not put the book down, other than to occasionally take a deep breath or gasp. It was like looking in a mirror. I remember the fights in the bars, the butches and the femmes, not quite as intense as in the book, but I frequented the bars in the 70's and things were a bit more liberal. I remember that lost, trapped feeling of not knowing who or what you were. I still have it today. And for the first time I have read about a love that Jess had for Theresa that I have for someone who cannot be with me, the emotional pain was so intense that I actually began to feel again as well, so this book has helped with my own healing.There is no other word for this book short of amazing. Thank you Jess and thank you Leslie.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book immediately!
Review: I have read "Stone Butch Blues" five times, and I still find new things to grab my attention and make me think. The first chapter admittedly starts out really slowly, but don't get discouraged! The second you start Chapter 2, there is no putting the book down. It is an amazing narrative about the human will to survive, come hell or high water (and believe me: Jess, the protagonist, confronts way worse). I know that sounds cheesy, but this novel is anything but! You don't have to be transgender or lesbian to appreciate this novel. Just human.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book immediately!
Review: I have read "Stone Butch Blues" five times, and I still find new things to grab my attention and make me think. The first chapter admittedly starts out really slowly, but don't get discouraged! The second you start Chapter 2, there is no putting the book down. It is an amazing narrative about the human will to survive, come hell or high water (and believe me: Jess, the protagonist, confronts way worse). I know that sounds cheesy, but this novel is anything but! You don't have to be transgender or lesbian to appreciate this novel. Just human.
Rating:
Summary: Hooray the book is great!
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Les Feinberg writes a story outlining a very important lesson about acceptance and identity. It is one of my favorite books of all time. The story is one that kept me up to to the wee hours of the morning; I could not put the book down!
Rating:
Summary: this book really touched me....more than any other ever had
Review: I just finished this book, as a matter of fact. I would like to share with everyone how important this book was to me. I found myself asking a lot of questions about my sexuality and how hard I figured it really was for me. This book helped me see that maybe I don't have it so bad. This book had my heart ripping out,torn open and bleeding. It had me laughing with Jess in her triumphs with lovers and work and it had me crying for her with her pain and Oh the shame she felt. I really don't believe, had I been her, that I would have survived the way she did. It makes me wonder, was it really like that in "the old days"? I applaud Leslie Feinberg for portraying such a decent womyn, as sweet as she could be, with the horror she endured, to survive the way she did. I truley enjoyed this book. My heart went out to whom ever the "Jess" character really was and/or is.
Rating:
Summary: such a good book
Review: i read this book upon the recommendation of a friend and i couldn't put it down. i had to keep reading to find out what jess decided to do next. Stone butch blues is a great book about what it's like to be different from everyone else. I think that all people could benefit from reading it, not just members of the lesbian community.
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