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Weird Fucks
Fiction. Women's Studies. Art by Amy Sillman. The long out-of-print 1978 novella by the brilliant Lynne Tillman catalogs a series of encounters and relationships spanning the 60s and the 70s. Fucking is involved. So is weird, but in a way that means more than just weird. Think wyrd, like the witch sisters of Macbeth, or already feeling like a ghost, or waiting in a Victorian nightgown on Valium for two months, or knowing more about the cock of the baby alien in your bed than about his face. It's an early work, but already the sentences are classic Lynne Tillman, brutal, funny, concrete, and haunted. This is how WEIRD FUCKS should have always been, alone and beautiful and shiny in the world. The 8 full color artworks by Amy Sillman rub up against the words, and the fine detail and construction make it a pleasurably Weird Fuck to read and hold.
First published October 1, 2015
About the author
Lynne Tillman
113 books320 followersHere’s an Author’s Bio. It could be written differently. I’ve written many for myself and read lots of other people’s. None is right or sufficient, each slants one way or the other. So, a kind of fiction – selection of events and facts.. So let me just say: I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old. That I actually do write stories and novels and essays, and that they get published, still astonishes me.
My news is that my 6th novel MEN AND APPARITIONS will appear in march 2018 from Soft Skull Press. It's my first novel in 12 years.
Each spring, I teach writing at University at Albany, in the English Dept., and in the fall, at The New School, in the Writing Dept.
I’ve lived with David Hofstra, a bass player, for many years. It makes a lot of sense to me that I live with a bass player, since time and rhythm are extremely important to my writing. He’s also a wonderful man.
As time goes by, my thoughts about writing change, how to write THIS, or why I do. There are no stable answers to a process that changes, and a life that does too. Writing, when I’m inhabiting its world, makes me happy, or less unhappy. I also feel engaged in and caught up in politics here, and in worlds farther away.
When I work inside the world in which I do make choices, I'm completely absorbed in what happens, in what can emerge. Writing is a beautiful, difficult relationship with what you know and don’t know, have or haven’t experienced, with grammar and syntax, with words, primarily, with ideas, and with everything else that’s been written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 reviews
September 17, 2023
it's interesting to read a contemporary (or what was considered contemporary) novella originally published in 1982, to see what is timeless about relationships and desire and what is not. there is a struggle of power and conflict that is so deeply intrinsic to the unnamed protagonist's life, and tillman portrays it so well and effortlessly. the writing was simple and sharp, and there were more than a few memorable quotes.
however, it just did not have the wow factor (?) (is that the right way to say it) that i expected. i was a bit disappointed at how superficial some of the writing was, how it was very pretty but did not really contribute to the greater meaning/picture of the book.
full review to come.
however, it just did not have the wow factor (?) (is that the right way to say it) that i expected. i was a bit disappointed at how superficial some of the writing was, how it was very pretty but did not really contribute to the greater meaning/picture of the book.
full review to come.
June 23, 2023
the title speaks for itself
December 21, 2021
3.75 - an easy afternoon read, definitely enjoyed it but it won’t change your life!
August 12, 2022
This book has been out of publication for some time and it’s shocking to me that someone thought it was even worth publishing in the first place. This is, simply, the author’s shag list. Name, city, some background and memorable facts make up all the chapters. It’s dispassionate and cold, just as lists tend to be. This is something that really is just for the benefit of the author and I’m confused as to what anyone would get from reading it. Disappointingly, not one of the fucks is what I would consider to be weird.
I want to make it clear that I think Lynn Tillman has led an interesting enough life and met enough ‘characters’ to inspire a good novel. By what little I had to go off it seems she’s also an okay writer. As much as I didn’t like this book I’d like to read ‘Men and Other Apparitions’ by her and see what else she has to offer.
I want to make it clear that I think Lynn Tillman has led an interesting enough life and met enough ‘characters’ to inspire a good novel. By what little I had to go off it seems she’s also an okay writer. As much as I didn’t like this book I’d like to read ‘Men and Other Apparitions’ by her and see what else she has to offer.
September 25, 2022
Aptly, this book is weird. It's very flippant but then quite surprisingly sincere at the end.
A fab quote from the near-end: "When I was fourteen I discovered that boys would fall in love with me if I listened to everything they said. A strong sense of integrity prohibited me from continuing this form of seduction. And, in addition to integrity, there was the problem of having to continue to listen to them." (pp. 104-105)
A fab quote from the near-end: "When I was fourteen I discovered that boys would fall in love with me if I listened to everything they said. A strong sense of integrity prohibited me from continuing this form of seduction. And, in addition to integrity, there was the problem of having to continue to listen to them." (pp. 104-105)
March 12, 2023
Not weird, just fucks. Really, really dull fucks. Only finished because it's so short.
November 12, 2021
Well…that was £8.99 down the drain!
What a load of old shite! I hated the protagonist, well the bits I got to know about her, nothing about her was fleshed out enough, so I wasn’t rooting for her one bit. And as someone who is a self proclaimed “slag”, nothing about the sex this bitch was having was weird at all! Meeting someone and fucking them is not weird…ITS NORMAL LIFE!! Well for many anyway! So if it’s weird from an emotional point of view then okay fine, but the moments of getting fucked just felt flat over all, the “love making” in the last chapter felt the most real.
None of the chapters felt complete, so over edited that moments that were interesting and lifted the chapter were stripped down to 3 or 4 lines and ended with …
”then we fucked”
Sorry Lynne love, not for me on this occasion, however I will say that the cover is gorgeous.
What a load of old shite! I hated the protagonist, well the bits I got to know about her, nothing about her was fleshed out enough, so I wasn’t rooting for her one bit. And as someone who is a self proclaimed “slag”, nothing about the sex this bitch was having was weird at all! Meeting someone and fucking them is not weird…ITS NORMAL LIFE!! Well for many anyway! So if it’s weird from an emotional point of view then okay fine, but the moments of getting fucked just felt flat over all, the “love making” in the last chapter felt the most real.
None of the chapters felt complete, so over edited that moments that were interesting and lifted the chapter were stripped down to 3 or 4 lines and ended with …
”then we fucked”
Sorry Lynne love, not for me on this occasion, however I will say that the cover is gorgeous.
December 4, 2021
I was expecting more weirdness due to the title, but this novella tells a somewhat familiar story. I felt it fell a little flat and left me a bit disappointed - but I suppose that’s the irony of what this book is about. In summary, weird fucks is just okay, 3/5 stars.
October 16, 2021
Een zeldzaam boek waarbij titel aansluit op leeservaring.
June 19, 2024
Voi että tää oli hieno. Tarkka, ilkikurinen, niin ihanan toteava ja silti kaiken rivien välissä kertova, reaktioiden ja yksityiskohtien kuvailun kautta näyttävä. Nautin valtavasti.
November 7, 2022
i did not like this at all…
June 9, 2022
3,75, trochę zabrakło mi głębi, ale genialnie napisane i jak to się cudownie domknęło!
March 30, 2022
Absurd, pijnlijk en raar. De titel staat gelijk aan de leeservaring. Het sarcasme en de ‘I don’t give a fuck’-mentaliteit kon ik waarderen maar alles voelde verder plat aan. Wel een interesse kijk op de seksuele lusten van “de man”. Ze lijken allemaal verschillend maar ze hebben allemaal hetzelfde gemeen in dit boek: ze communiceren kut (of gewoon niet), zijn of worden allemaal verliefd op een andere vrouw en weten totaal niet wat ze willen op relationeel gebied.
December 19, 2023
Pufff ha sido como estar hablando con alguien que te considera amiga y no sabes cómo decirle que no
April 1, 2018
Perskaičius pasitvirtino mintis, išreikšta ją įpusėjus - ši knyga pati susirado mane ir tokiomis pat aplinkybėmis, kurios aprašomos joje - keistomis. Nei aš ieškojau kažko tokio, nei norėjau, nei pirkau, bet dabar ji yra mano.
Jei kas klaustų apie ką ši knyga, tiesiog bakstelėčiau į knygos pavadinimą. Weird Fucks. Perfect name for this book. Juolab, kad anglų kalba perskaitytas knygas galiu suskaičiuoti ant rankos pirštų. Tai man primena, jog reikia skaityti daugiau knygų angliškai su žodynu po ranka. Suprasčiau daugiau.
Esmė ir truputis daugiau suprasta. It's all about weird fucks and one woman, whose had them. Šias trumpos, viena po kitos skaitomas istorijas apie seksualinius nuotykius, manytum jas turėtų gaubti erotiška atmosfera, bet jos nebuvo. Kalba gana paprasta, buitiška. Pagrindinė veikėja man atrodė abejinga viskam, vaikščiojanti pačiu krašteliu palei bedugnę, žlunganti arba visiškai žlugusi. Paskutiniai du puslapiai tai tik patvirtino.
Negaliu vertinti nei teigiamai, nei neigiamai. Nei patiko, nei nepatiko. Galbūt geriausias dalykas apie šias keistas istorijas yra susimąstymas ir liūdnokas atsidūsimas, kad "toks tas gyvenimas", o dar dažniau "jau tie vyrai...". Realistiškai pateikta moters-klajūnės jausena.
Kas man dar nepatiko, tai per stangrus knygos įrišimas, kai vos praslysta pirštai puslapiai šoka atgal, o jei dar skirtukas ne tarp jų... suerzina. Labai gražus kaligrafiškas pavadinimo užrašas ir visas knygos dizainas. Matosi, kad leidinys kokybiškas.
Viską sudėjus
4/5
Jei kas klaustų apie ką ši knyga, tiesiog bakstelėčiau į knygos pavadinimą. Weird Fucks. Perfect name for this book. Juolab, kad anglų kalba perskaitytas knygas galiu suskaičiuoti ant rankos pirštų. Tai man primena, jog reikia skaityti daugiau knygų angliškai su žodynu po ranka. Suprasčiau daugiau.
Esmė ir truputis daugiau suprasta. It's all about weird fucks and one woman, whose had them. Šias trumpos, viena po kitos skaitomas istorijas apie seksualinius nuotykius, manytum jas turėtų gaubti erotiška atmosfera, bet jos nebuvo. Kalba gana paprasta, buitiška. Pagrindinė veikėja man atrodė abejinga viskam, vaikščiojanti pačiu krašteliu palei bedugnę, žlunganti arba visiškai žlugusi. Paskutiniai du puslapiai tai tik patvirtino.
Negaliu vertinti nei teigiamai, nei neigiamai. Nei patiko, nei nepatiko. Galbūt geriausias dalykas apie šias keistas istorijas yra susimąstymas ir liūdnokas atsidūsimas, kad "toks tas gyvenimas", o dar dažniau "jau tie vyrai...". Realistiškai pateikta moters-klajūnės jausena.
Kas man dar nepatiko, tai per stangrus knygos įrišimas, kai vos praslysta pirštai puslapiai šoka atgal, o jei dar skirtukas ne tarp jų... suerzina. Labai gražus kaligrafiškas pavadinimo užrašas ir visas knygos dizainas. Matosi, kad leidinys kokybiškas.
Viską sudėjus
4/5
January 4, 2022
An episodic recounting of the narrator’s (Tillman’s?) various travels and sexual encounters over the period of several years. Despite the adult subject matter the tone was a little detached and she never really expressed having a sense of enjoyment or pleasure in any of these “entanglements”. They just seemed like one-sided transactions. I think a lot of these men thought they were God’s gift to women but weren’t actually good partners in any sense of the word (emotionally, physically, etc) 🙄 As one blurb said “The men of this world evade and simper, they prey, preen, and fall hopelessly in love.” Idk about the falling in love part though…
Reads like Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ but with more sex and less bullshit. Also, I wish Tillman had slept with Kerouac and chronicled it in here because I feel like he would have been a weird and disappointing f$&k. 🤣 Clearly not a fan of Kerouac over here - how he treated women or as a writer.
This was a 3/5 ⭐️ for me. I believe this is one of Tillman’s earlier works and would possibly consider reading something else of hers. 🤷🏻♀️
Reads like Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ but with more sex and less bullshit. Also, I wish Tillman had slept with Kerouac and chronicled it in here because I feel like he would have been a weird and disappointing f$&k. 🤣 Clearly not a fan of Kerouac over here - how he treated women or as a writer.
This was a 3/5 ⭐️ for me. I believe this is one of Tillman’s earlier works and would possibly consider reading something else of hers. 🤷🏻♀️
March 29, 2022
"There are lies in dreams."
I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I bought it. I saw the title and that was it. It was one of those books where I didn't even read the synopsis and I went into this completely blind. I think I enjoyed this more because I didn't know what to expect.
From the title, I thought we were getting a story about weird people doing weird things. But we actually get a young woman who travels from place to place living her life freely also while getting laid and falling in love along the way.
It was interesting for sure. I liked the writing style and it reminded me of reading something by Babitz. Weird Fucks was definitely weird and I really enjoyed it. A little sad that it wasn't weirder. I look forward to going on another journey with Lynne soon!
I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I bought it. I saw the title and that was it. It was one of those books where I didn't even read the synopsis and I went into this completely blind. I think I enjoyed this more because I didn't know what to expect.
From the title, I thought we were getting a story about weird people doing weird things. But we actually get a young woman who travels from place to place living her life freely also while getting laid and falling in love along the way.
It was interesting for sure. I liked the writing style and it reminded me of reading something by Babitz. Weird Fucks was definitely weird and I really enjoyed it. A little sad that it wasn't weirder. I look forward to going on another journey with Lynne soon!
October 30, 2021
Not that I'm an expert, but most of the fucks in this book didn't seem so weird to me. And I found the rest of the book disappointingly banal as well. Maybe I've become too cynical about life, that's possible as well. But as Tillman writes herself: 'Of course, no one makes friends that easily.' Same with books.
February 13, 2018
It was weird. And there was loads of fucking. It left me feeling cynical, abused and sad - that was unusual from what I mostly read!
Oh, and great paper/design quality. This was superb.
Oh, and great paper/design quality. This was superb.
February 22, 2024
First published in 1980, the book is a collection of short chapters retelling laconic accounts of an unnamed narrator’s sexual encounters in the 1960s and 1970s. I devoured this shag list within an hour.
I did not find the encounters peculiar or “weird”. Reflecting on the title of the book, I think the author is not referring to weird “fucks” in the sense of sexual encounters, but more so referring to the “weird fucks” she has had sexual encounters with. All the men she deals with do not want to connect on a deeper level than her vagina, they are full of sexual ability and emotional inability.
“A physicist once told me that one view of our universe is that its stability is an accident, that thousands upon thousands of relationships are unstable and that chance alone holds ours together.”
I did not find the encounters peculiar or “weird”. Reflecting on the title of the book, I think the author is not referring to weird “fucks” in the sense of sexual encounters, but more so referring to the “weird fucks” she has had sexual encounters with. All the men she deals with do not want to connect on a deeper level than her vagina, they are full of sexual ability and emotional inability.
“A physicist once told me that one view of our universe is that its stability is an accident, that thousands upon thousands of relationships are unstable and that chance alone holds ours together.”
February 3, 2023
100 page books are going to be my thing in 2023
a fun lil read!
a fun lil read!
February 10, 2024
shite. doesn't warrant the title.
August 14, 2023
No weird fucks, just fucks.
Read
September 9, 2022There are some excellent moments in this firecracker of a book. Here is my favourite:
"He undressed me in the doorway and fucked me. It went fast after so many weeks, like a branch breaking off a tree. The time had come. It was a snap."
Her use of language is snarky, no bullshit, like the world she builds. To me, her 'weird' fucks rest more on the detached attitude of the participants, or the floating nature of her life that bounces her from lover to lover, making her partners the different anchors in her strange life, more than the fucks themselves being weird.
"He undressed me in the doorway and fucked me. It went fast after so many weeks, like a branch breaking off a tree. The time had come. It was a snap."
Her use of language is snarky, no bullshit, like the world she builds. To me, her 'weird' fucks rest more on the detached attitude of the participants, or the floating nature of her life that bounces her from lover to lover, making her partners the different anchors in her strange life, more than the fucks themselves being weird.
November 27, 2022
This is a very, very short story of people the narrator (author?) fucked and how. It's so short, I'd say it doesn't even qualify as a novella.
On the one hand, it was actually enjoyable - there were some very sharp, punchy observations, and it was interesting how hyper-contemporary some parts felt despite it being written in the 80s.
On the other hand, I can't believe someone actually published this in print? It's short, and dry, and does not have a lot to say.
All in all, I am honestly disappointed at the TOTAL ABSENCE of weird fucks.
On the one hand, it was actually enjoyable - there were some very sharp, punchy observations, and it was interesting how hyper-contemporary some parts felt despite it being written in the 80s.
On the other hand, I can't believe someone actually published this in print? It's short, and dry, and does not have a lot to say.
All in all, I am honestly disappointed at the TOTAL ABSENCE of weird fucks.
June 20, 2022
Acostumbrada como estoy, me esperaba algo más raro. Aun así, tiene algunos toques de humor ácido que me sacaron una sonrisa cómplice.
A los catorce años descubrí que los chicos se enamoraban de mí si escuchaba todo lo que decían. Un fuerte sentido de la integridad me prohibió seguir con esa forma de seducción. Y además de la integridad estaba el problema de tener que seguir escuchándolos.
A los catorce años descubrí que los chicos se enamoraban de mí si escuchaba todo lo que decían. Un fuerte sentido de la integridad me prohibió seguir con esa forma de seducción. Y además de la integridad estaba el problema de tener que seguir escuchándolos.
November 29, 2016
A classic Tillman frolic brought back from the dead by a small press. Cool art too.
October 12, 2021
Een scherpe en droogkomische novelle, die me vaak deed denken aan het werk van de geweldige Cookie Mueller. Ik ben nieuwgierig geworden naar ander werk van Tillman.
April 18, 2022
weirdest thing about this book was the title *yawn*
November 29, 2022
so disappointing..
Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 reviews