Catherynne M. Valente

The lives of six female superheroes and the girlfriends of superheroes. A ferocious riff on women in superhero comics From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a series of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress. In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.

The Refrigerator Monologues

Sarah Sammis

It's a cool concept but I'm not enough of a fan of the genre to be invested in the way things play out.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

Didi Chanoch

These are the stories of the women in refrigerators, the women who die so that superheroes can have angst and a reason for vengeance. This book is a must read for superhero fans, but a powerful read for anyone. In the underworld, in the Lethe Cafe, they tell their stories. 

Cat Valente is one of the finest writers working today, and this book is another excellent example of that.

Maggie Gordon

If you are a feminist geek who loves superhero books, but hates the way that DC and Marvel treat their female characters, this book is for you! It's a series of short stories from a variety of dead women connected to male super heroes. They are all stand-ins for real characters with some minor changes, but the stories are similar enough for the critiques to stand.

While I appreciated the sentiment behind the book, it fell a bit flat for me. For one, it is preaching to the choir. Most readers who pick this up probably already know about the women in refrigerators trope, and the stories that Valente featured are among the most frequently discussed in the superhero genre. It's a good release for rage, but not for moving forward. 

On that note, some of the rage feels a bit dated. Things have been getting better. Slowly. We have new characters like Ms. Marvel and old characters that have been revamped. DC and Marvel still do a lot of stupid things (see half their decisions involving Wonder Woman), but pushing back on misogynistic representations of women has done a lot of good for the comic book industry. It's hard to go back to some of these older, iconic characters when I know there are so many that are better now. My rage is tempered with the fact that a lot is different. That I didn't even grow up with some of these stories. 

I also wasn't 100% behind all the criticisms. In particular, the Harley/Joker story was a disappointment. I have followed Harley for a long time, and the comics do a pretty good job at showing that Harley's relationship with the Joker is abusive and bad. It's not a typical fridge example (especially as she's never died), and Harley, in canon, kicked the Joker to the curb. There are all sorts of things about Harley's character that are problematic, but overall she's one of DC's more interesting and actualised female characters. The way that she's used in licensed products and some marketing rang true to Valente's version, but overall the short seemed like it just didn't really know the character. (And these characters are obviously stand-ins so the weakness in the argumentation can't be brushed off as simply due to the changes Valente made).

Finally, my last issue with the book was the fact that all the voices were too similar to one another. Valente showcases six different women, but despite their hugely different backgrounds they all sound like cookie cutter versions of the same, angry cool girl. In attempts to give them all agency, Valente writes them all as confident, brash, and mouthy. It's a series of attributes that reads "strong, independent female character", but it's frustrating that in attempting to give these characters a new voice, Valente uses other problematic tropes. 

So, is this a good read? I did enjoy, but not nearly as much as all the rave reviews led me to believe that I would. If you want a good read just to support some ragey-feels, this one does a good job at that, but it doesn't say anything new. Alas!

Ben Nathan

I really enjoyed this. It was not what I expected it to be (knew nothing going in) but I found myself a little wrapped up in it. Who knew I would smile so much during a book about death?

Molly Shipley

Laura

Constance Reed

Tiffanie Dang

pam a lamb

From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a ferocious riff on the women in superhero comics. The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress. In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.

The Refrigerator Monologues

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