Description

Indiana University Press, paperback

Publication date: March 29, 2022

Winner of the 2021 Blue Light Books Prize, Rochelle Hurt’sThe J Girls: A Reality Showis a tribute to the grit and glitter of millennial girlhood and a testament to its dangers and traumas. Hurt’s creative, genre-bending mix of poetry, fiction, and screenplay brings the girls to life with campy performances of monologues, soap opera clips, mock interviews, talk shows, commercials, and even burlesque. Vulgar, rhapsodic language serves as costume and shield, allowing the J Girls to script their own images and project glowing, outsized versions of themselves into the safe space of the TV screen.

Playful and poignant,The J Girlsis a flashy ode to performanceand a nostalgic elegy for adolescent friendships.