On Opinions

I was never a fan of Roxane Gay’s writing, least of all her New York Times op-eds — but I’m changing my mind. Opinions is an excellent collection that gathers a wide range of her past writing from many sources. Parts of it I found difficult, and I think that difficulty comes from a left melancholia that’s settled over me: the late 2010s and early 2020s were supposed to be the moment things shifted, and yet today reaction is the order of the day, so reading these essays it’s easier to see what’s been lost — including some of the excesses of that moment’s rhetoric. Gay fights the same fight I do, and I’m with her through and through.

Her most widely read pieces have been on identity politics, especially race and gender, but her best writing is actually the cultural criticism, and it’s a wonder she isn’t better known for it. She never backs away from argument, but she’s such a strong expository writer — particularly on her own experiences with a piece of culture — that I wish those were the pieces being elevated. Her commentary on the Fast & Furious franchise is excellent, and she’s wonderfully thoughtful when she reviews novels. Her interviews and profiles are great too: there are outstanding ones here of Melina Matsoukas (who directed Queen & Slim), Janelle Monáe, Sarah Paulson, and Tessa Thompson, and I wish there were more — others, even more prominent figures like Madonna and Nicki Minaj, turn up but aren’t nearly as illuminating. After this, I think I’ll pick up some of her other books: Hunger, Bad Feminist, the short stories.