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85th out of 385 books
—
203 voters
Legs Get Led Astray
by
Chloe Caldwell (Goodreads Author)
Literary Nonfiction. LEGS GET LED ASTRAY is a provocative collection of essays that vividly rockets the reader through one young woman's life. Chloe Caldwell beautifully and bluntly escorts you through her childhood dreams, her first loves, her most unguarded sexual exploits, bookstore crushes, babysitting jobs, heartbroken wanderlust, and the suicide of a lost lover. Cald...more
Paperback, 164 pages
Published
April 3rd 2011
by Future Tense Books
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Caldwell certainly has a distinct writing style. These are more prose poems than true prose, and she heavily favors writing these to a person (using a lot of "yous" in her writing).
I discovered Caldwell when Powell's sent me a piece of her writing as part of an Indiespensables package (if you're reading this, chances are you like to read, and I would highly encourage you to look into Indiespensables). I'm glad I bought her book--the style is right up my alley. I did find, though, that because s...more
I discovered Caldwell when Powell's sent me a piece of her writing as part of an Indiespensables package (if you're reading this, chances are you like to read, and I would highly encourage you to look into Indiespensables). I'm glad I bought her book--the style is right up my alley. I did find, though, that because s...more
Could become for straight girls in Brooklyn what Michelle Tea's "Valencia" was for queer girls in San Francisco.
If you're a person like me, which means if you're a kind of person whose early 20s didn't involve living in crumbling apartment buildings and using six impossible substances before breakfast, you might feel like you're contracting liver cancer and tetanus on every page. If you went vegetarian at 19 for health reasons, spent the first six years of your twenties in a monogamous relation...more
If you're a person like me, which means if you're a kind of person whose early 20s didn't involve living in crumbling apartment buildings and using six impossible substances before breakfast, you might feel like you're contracting liver cancer and tetanus on every page. If you went vegetarian at 19 for health reasons, spent the first six years of your twenties in a monogamous relation...more
I'm only halfway through but I have already earmarked several sections that I love. This book is really sad and really sexy at the same time, kind of like Jordan Catalano. It makes me cry. It makes me wish I had a more rebellious upbringing. It makes me wonder if I missed something in New York, and it makes me want to have sex with Chloe Caldwell.
Chloe's got it, that undefinable thing everyone wants to define. Also, the essay about the French guy is as good as any of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs. Excited to see what's next.
Wow! That's all for now.
"But my own legs had this idea that getting on airplanes-- that walking down ramp ways with a suitcase on wheels, that running away in a sense, would help me find whatever it was that I was looking for because he made it clear to me he could not give it to me. My legs were steps ahead of me- they were thinking maybe someone I could love lived on the West Coast. What if I was in the wrong place? I had to check. My legs wanted to open widely for someone new and have that person take his place-- ca...more
I decided to read this because Lidia Yuknavitch is quoted on the back cover.
I got caught up reading this while I was pressing on through four other books. I never do that. Or, I never used to do that.
I liked reading this because I relate to the author and god damnit, that's enough.
Loving reading this book. Was reading it in a robe on a film set just before I had to get naked, tense, freaked -- but still laughing and laughing and laughing at the little boy who was obsessed with his tiny little penis. Only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because, lovely and lyrical and hard all at once as her writing is, I know she's going to grow into a slightly more mature voice. But that's part of what I love about this girl -- she is who she is at any stage of her life, it seems. I've a...more
I first heard Chloe read an essay from a podcast of AWP, I think. It was her essay "Long May You Run", and I loved it, and I loved the way she read it. And then, I didn't really forget about it as much as get distracted because there are so many things I would like to read. Then, I was listening to Brad Listi's podcast, "Other People", as I always do every week because I think it is an excellent podcast and I often love the books of the authors who he interviews. Also, the interviews are always...more
I bought this book of essays on impulse, having seen it on my coffee break in the Small Press section at Powells. Being a twenty-something myself, I was intrigued and couldn’t wait to read about another woman’s life and experiences. They were totally different from mine in a literal way, but I could still relate to the sense of wistfulness I found in many of her stories. Like many if not most of us, Caldwell seems to learn the most about herself through her relationships with others, and that is...more
2 likes · like · see review
Let me explain this low rating, especially since I was really looking forward to reading this book. For all the explicitness of the book (say, for instance, the fact that Caldwell enjoys masturbating while wearing knee-high socks and listening to men degrade women), Caldwell comes off less as a person than as a type--the Manic Pixie Sex Girl? She does lots of drugs, lots of men, but without any sense as to why she does these things--there seems to be no motivation for her beyond wanting to do it...more
Read it for "Hunger."
I hate to say that I've really enjoyed something that I can relate to (minus the big city), because if you can relate then it's not much of a challenge, now is it? That said, I have a feeling I would still enjoy this book had my own legs not been "led astray", because I love the author's writing style. I'm not finished yet, but so far I'd definitely recommend it.
I want to give this book 5 because I really loved these essays. The only thing holding me back is that a lot of the essays touch on the same or similar stuff. The best and longest essay is the second one. The problem is many of the ones that followed overlapped quite a bit with that one. Sometimes this was charming and interesting to see the same parts of the author's life from a different angle. But it started feeling too much of the same.
Some of the best essays in my opinion were the ones that...more
Some of the best essays in my opinion were the ones that...more
Though the essays all have distinct, well-crafted structures, together they read as the memoir of a young woman delighting in her own freedom and sexuality, while battling the loneliness of youth in transition. These essays tackle questions of how to live true and well, the joys and difficulties of finding meaning where you can, and the search for a personal moral code. Caldwell’s straightforward prose does not apologize nor hide its complex truths, and often the tonal shifts between elated expe...more
I only read one essay “Girlfriend” from this collection having received it as a broadside/toss-in gift from another book order from Powell’s but it is so telling that I can’t help but remark as if though I’ve read the entire collection. In the course of this one brief essay I experienced the rush of my life from 6 – 30. I’m not sure I have the stamina to read the rest of the collection.
As Cheryl Stayed commented in her blurb from the dust jacket “Chloe Caldwell's LEGS GET LED ASTRAY is a scorchi...more
As Cheryl Stayed commented in her blurb from the dust jacket “Chloe Caldwell's LEGS GET LED ASTRAY is a scorchi...more
I saw Chloe Caldwell read in Portland a few months ago and have been counting the days until her first book release on Future Tense Books. I finally picked up this book of essays on Friday afternoon and was done with it by Sunday morning.
'Legs Get Led Astray' incited a mixture of feelings from me. I admire the work and I think some of it is bitingly good. However, I found myself looking forward to what this writer may produce with a little more maturity, maybe when her writing will be less abou...more
'Legs Get Led Astray' incited a mixture of feelings from me. I admire the work and I think some of it is bitingly good. However, I found myself looking forward to what this writer may produce with a little more maturity, maybe when her writing will be less abou...more
Apr 23, 2012
Zoe
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
loud girls, crazy girls, fall-in-love-too-much girls
Recommended to Zoe by:
Kevin Sampsell
Shelves:
non-fiction,
2012books
Maybe it's because I'm an unrepentant narcissist, or maybe it's because we're Future Tense sisters, but I couldn't help but think that Chloe's book reminded me of Please Don't Kill the Freshman. Like, if my life had been sewn with a brown thread instead of black, and if I had been east coast instead of west, and and if my parents had split up when I was in high school and not college, then I also would have moved to Brooklyn and fallen in love with boys at the Strand and lived in a dilapidated o...more
Chloe Caldwell can write. Her prose is clear, honest, fearless and vivid: smart, snarky and sweet. In a word, enthralling. I know I was not as brave in my twenties, both to do the things she does, and then to write about them in this flasher-memoir style. The essay collection seems to be an act of exposure, throwing open the raincoat and saying: Look at me! Do you love me?
A lot has already been said about the essay "Hunger," the orgy, the hamburger. One reviewer called her a hero. I get that it...more
A lot has already been said about the essay "Hunger," the orgy, the hamburger. One reviewer called her a hero. I get that it...more
A nice thing to read on a Sunday afternoon while day-drinking.
I saw Chloe read the essay 'Yes to Carrots' in Seattle's now-defunct Pilot Books during the weekly writing group in 2010 and was charmed by her writing, if somewhat scandalized as a very prude 20-year-old. These are compact, tightly written essays about emerging sexuality, loss, substance abuse, the trouble with time-zones, and babysitting young boys, among other things.
Four stars only because some of these essays ended before I got...more
I saw Chloe read the essay 'Yes to Carrots' in Seattle's now-defunct Pilot Books during the weekly writing group in 2010 and was charmed by her writing, if somewhat scandalized as a very prude 20-year-old. These are compact, tightly written essays about emerging sexuality, loss, substance abuse, the trouble with time-zones, and babysitting young boys, among other things.
Four stars only because some of these essays ended before I got...more
I'm rating this book really highly because I think I read it at the exact moment of my life when I needed to read it most. And I love that feeling so much.
I'm 24. I have no idea what the hell is going on most of the time. I just chased a lifelong dream across 3 time zones and feel exhausted and confused and exhilarated.
There are many ways in which I do not relate to Chloe Caldwell. I don't really do drugs; booze is my only poison of choice. I've never been to NYC, let alone lived there. I'm not...more
I'm 24. I have no idea what the hell is going on most of the time. I just chased a lifelong dream across 3 time zones and feel exhausted and confused and exhilarated.
There are many ways in which I do not relate to Chloe Caldwell. I don't really do drugs; booze is my only poison of choice. I've never been to NYC, let alone lived there. I'm not...more
I don't know why I feel weird about saying this book is charming; it is. It's charming.
Hitchcock on Content vs. Technique
Chloe, I get the feeling, isn't interested in the apple, either -- it's tempting to focus on the content here, but I don't really think that's what she's after. For one thing, that content stays the same almost throughout these 25 (?) essays. But she uses so many different techniques that it seems to shift from one essay to another. As I said -- charming.
Hitchcock on Content vs. Technique
Chloe, I get the feeling, isn't interested in the apple, either -- it's tempting to focus on the content here, but I don't really think that's what she's after. For one thing, that content stays the same almost throughout these 25 (?) essays. But she uses so many different techniques that it seems to shift from one essay to another. As I said -- charming.
1 like · like · see review
The short semi-autobrographical essays in Legs Get Led Astray vary from minimalistic to complex, from stories of past relationships to stories of her apartment building collapsing. These essays are at times not for the faint of heart, but the raw emotions portrayed in Caldwell's work are authentic. In other words, this is what Lena Dunham wants to be but what Caldwell manages to pull off without pretension.
(One issue I have with this collection is that the narrator states that these are autobio...more
(One issue I have with this collection is that the narrator states that these are autobio...more
1 like · like · see review
Fuck "Girls" and fuck "Sex and the City." Read this book if you care at all what it's like to be young and horny and sad and free and drug-induced and happy (and broke) in the greatest city in the world. More importantly, read these essays if you care to know what it is like to want to devour your life and explore its fullness simply by paying attention.
I know some people will get hung up on the sex and substance abuse, but there is much more going on here, least of which is the courage to writ...more
I know some people will get hung up on the sex and substance abuse, but there is much more going on here, least of which is the courage to writ...more
Chloe Caldwell's personal essays have a way of making me dissect my own life, whether I want to or not. I say 'me' instead of 'you' (though I bet it would be true for you too), and I am disregarding the editorial 'we.' Reading Legs Get Led Astray is not an abstraction — it is her voice and my brain having a conversation through the page. And though at times what I remembered through her past made me uncomfortable, it was only because I knew the feelings to be true. I enjoyed Legs Get Led Astray...more
This is from the introduction that I gave Chloe at her book release party in Portland recently...
Chloe Caldwell came to me nearly two years ago (in March of 2010). She asked if I was taking submissions and said she felt a specific connection to the work that Future Tense does. In that first email, she wrote, “Every word I write is non-fiction. I get off, literally at seeing the scary humiliating tragically beautiful truth on paper.”
I thought that was pretty charming.
But I was backed up with pro...more
Chloe Caldwell came to me nearly two years ago (in March of 2010). She asked if I was taking submissions and said she felt a specific connection to the work that Future Tense does. In that first email, she wrote, “Every word I write is non-fiction. I get off, literally at seeing the scary humiliating tragically beautiful truth on paper.”
I thought that was pretty charming.
But I was backed up with pro...more
5 likes · like · see review
I could not put it down. The title says it all. We are not always in control of ourselves. "Legs Led Astray" is a poignant, funny, and disturbing look into someone else's proverbial medicine cabinet. The honesty the narrator conveys made me feel voyeuristic. But by the time I reached the end, I felt like a changed person; less like a watcher and more like a participant in these stories. Must read.
as first books go...this one's a prize. full of the immortality of self discovery in youth and tempered by the humanity/humility met between the cracks. plenty of sex, laughs, heartbreak, and outright joy. it gracefully choreographs the sometimes awkward dance of maturation without apology. in fact it often finds a way to perform pirouettes on top of the speedbumps. loved this. looking forward to what's next. Cheers, Chloe.
I would give this 2.5 stars. I had really high hopes for this book, considering it got blurbs from Cheryl Strayed and Lidia Yuknavitch. But it was a collection of essays about an immature 20-something's time in NY and her escapades abroad and with random bad boys. There was no self-reflection or analysis, and the whole thing felt very superficial. Caldwell does not reveal much of herself in these writings - sure, she gives us details about her masturbation habits and affinity for blowjobs, but w...more
I appreciate the honesty of this book and quality of the writing. She's more honest than me...I told her directly what I thought of this book, (still 5 stars), but it's not for everyone to hear. Sorry.
In the distant or near future, when the subject matter is reflected upon, there will be another book I'm looking forward to reading.
In the distant or near future, when the subject matter is reflected upon, there will be another book I'm looking forward to reading.
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CHLOE CALDWELL is the author of the essay collection, “Legs Get Led Astray“ (Future Tense Books, April 2012) and the e-book “The New Age Camp” (Thought Catalog, 2012).
Her nonfiction has appeared in Salon, The Rumpus, Thought Catalog, Nylon, The Nervous Breakdown, xoJane, The Frisky, The Sun Magazine, SMITH, Jewcy, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, Vol 1. Brooklyn, Freerange Nonfiction, The Faster Times,...more
More about Chloe Caldwell...
Her nonfiction has appeared in Salon, The Rumpus, Thought Catalog, Nylon, The Nervous Breakdown, xoJane, The Frisky, The Sun Magazine, SMITH, Jewcy, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, Vol 1. Brooklyn, Freerange Nonfiction, The Faster Times,...more
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“My mother wanted to be Betty Boop. Betty Boop was independent. Betty Boop was sexy. Betty Boop really had her shit together, you know?”
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“I think if you tell someone that you love him or her, (especially a person that once screamed, “I’m not gonna love you ever!”) and that person says “duh,” then I think that means you have done something right.”
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May 21, 2013 03:54pm