My Autobiography of Carson McCullers

Prior to publication, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers was named one of the most anticipated queer books of the Year by Lit Hub,{{Cite web|date=2020-01-14|title=Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020|url=https://lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2020/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Literary Hub|language=en-US}} Buzzfeed,{{Cite web|last=Rebolini|first=Arianna|date=2020-01-07|title=83 Books To Keep On Your Radar In 2020|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ariannarebolini/most-anticipated-books-2020|access-date=2022-01-10|website=BuzzFeed News|language=en}} Forbes,{{Cite web|last=Bussel|first=Rachel Kramer|date=2019-12-19|title=The 10 Most Anticipated Books Of 2020, According To Independent Bookstores|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelkramerbussel/2019/12/09/the-10-most-anticipated-books-of-2020-according-to-independent-bookstores/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Forbes|language=en}} Electric Literature,{{Cite web|last=Vitcavage|first=Adam|date=2019-12-09|title=Get Ready for the 20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020|url=https://electricliterature.com/get-ready-for-the-20-most-anticipated-debuts-of-early-2020/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Electric Literature|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Neilson|first=Sarah|date=2019-10-24|title=11 Highly-Anticipated Queer Books Coming Out This Winter|url=https://electricliterature.com/11-highly-anticipated-queer-books-coming-out-this-winter/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Electric Literature|language=en-US}} and Oprah Magazine.{{Cite web|last=Hart|first=Michelle|date=2020-10-29|title=These Are the 42 Must-Read LGBTQ Books of 2020|url=https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g29076416/best-lgbtq-books-2020/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Oprah Daily|language=en-US}}

Following publication, the book received positive reviews from Booklist,{{Cite book|last=Bostrom|first=Annie|date=2020-01-01|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers|url=https://www.booklistonline.com/My-Autobiography-of-Carson-McCullers/pid=9726199|access-date=2022-01-10|via=Booklist}} Kirkus Reviews,{{Cite web|date=2019-09-29|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jenn-shapland/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Kirkus Reviews}} The New York Times Book Review,{{Cite news|last=O’Grady|first=Megan|date=2020-02-04|title=She Found Carson McCullers's Love Letters. They Taught Her Something About Herself.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/books/review/autobiography-carson-mccullers-jenn-shapland.html|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0362-4331}} The A.V. Club,{{Cite web|last=Waite|first=Kelsey J.|date=2020-02-03|title=An affecting new memoir frees Carson McCullers—and its writer—from the closet|url=https://www.avclub.com/an-affecting-new-memoir-frees-carson-mccullers-and-its-1841419670|access-date=2022-01-10|website=The A.V. Club|language=en-us}} Los Angeles Review of Books,{{Cite web|last=Duke|first=Ellie|date=2020-02-04|title=Rewriting McCullers|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rewriting-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Los Angeles Review of Books|language=en}} The Times,{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Melanie|date=2021-04-24|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland review — freed from the closet at last|newspaper=The Times |language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-by-jenn-shapland-review-hsg7g5ft5|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0140-0460}} Full Stop,{{Cite web|last=Martins|first=Julia Irion|date=2020-08-06|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers – Jenn Shapland|url=https://www.full-stop.net/2020/08/06/reviews/julia-irion-martins/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-jenn-shapland/|access-date=2022-01-10|language=en}} The New York Review of Books,{{Cite news|last=Marler|first=Regina|date=2021-05-02|title=A Connoisseur of Yearning|language=en|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/07/23/carson-mccullers-connoisseur-yearning/|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0028-7504}} The Georgia Review,{{Cite web|last=Enszer|first=Julie R.|date=Fall 2020|title=on My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland|url=https://thegeorgiareview.com/posts/on-my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-by-jenn-shapland/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=The Georgia Review|language=en-US}} Star Tribune,{{Cite web|last=Hewitt|first=Chris|date=2021-01-03|title=REVIEW: 'My Autobiography of Carson McCullers,' by Jenn Shapland|url=https://www.startribune.com/review-my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-by-jenn-shapland/600006353/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Star Tribune}} The Rumpus,{{Cite web|last=Possanza|first=Amelia|date=2020-04-22|title=Queer Logic: Females and My Autobiography of Carson McCullers|url=https://therumpus.net/2020/04/females-and-my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=The Rumpus.net|language=en}} Lambda Literary,{{Cite web|last=Neilson|first=Sarah|date=2020-02-05|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland|url=https://lambdaliterary.org/2020/02/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Lambda Literary|language=en}} Autostraddle,{{Cite web|last=Gorton|first=Kate|date=2020-01-07|title=Jenn Shapland Names What Needs Naming in "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers"|url=https://www.autostraddle.com/review-my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Autostraddle|language=en-US}} Library Journal,{{Cite web|last=Kingsbury|first=Pam|date=2020-01-01|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers|url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Library Journal}} The New Yorker,{{Cite magazine|date=2020-05-20|title=Briefly Noted Book Reviews|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/01/the-death-of-jesus-a-childrens-bible-the-equivalents-and-my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers|access-date=2022-01-10|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}} and Open Letters Review.{{Cite web|last=Joyner|first=Hannah|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland|url=https://openlettersreview.com/posts/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-by-jenn-shapland|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Open Letters Review|date=12 June 2020 |language=en-US}}

In various reviews, the book was called "revelatory",{{Cite web|last=Shapl|first=Jenn|date=2019-12-20|title=This Famous Author's Secret Love Letters Helped Me Realize Who I Am|url=https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a30270468/jenn-shapland-my-autobiography-carson-mccullers/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Oprah Daily|language=en-US}} "stimulating", "gorgeous, brilliant", and "a moving record of love at the margins". The New York Review of Books referred to it as "part fan letter, part detective story, and part steely corrective".

The Los Angeles Times{{Cite web|date=2020-04-10|title=Review: Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-04-10/mark-doty-on-walt-whitman-jenn-shapland-on-carson-mccullers|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} and The New Republic{{Cite magazine|last=Alam|first=Rumaan|date=2020-02-21|title=Finding Carson McCullers|magazine=The New Republic|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/156608/finding-carson-mccullers|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0028-6583}} offered mixed reviews.

The Guardian's Rachel Cook provided a poor review, saying, "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, as its too-clever-by-half-sounding title implies, is neither memoir nor biography... such a declaration cannot disguise the fact that her (over) identification with McCullers takes us nowhere that is very productive."{{Cite web|last=Cooke|first=Rachel|date=2021-05-02|title=My Autobiography of Carson McCullers review – identity parade|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/may/02/my-autobiography-of-carson-mccullers-review-identity-parade|access-date=2022-01-10|website=the Guardian|language=en}} In a similarly disappointed review, Publishers Weekly said, "Shapland’s intermingled autobiography and biography of McCullers’s life unsatisfyingly blurs what is real and what is imagined."{{Cite book|title=Nonfiction Book Review: My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland. Tin House, $22.95 (288p)|isbn=978-1-947793-28-6|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-947793-28-6|access-date=2022-01-10|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en|last1=Shapland |first1=Jenn |year=2020 |publisher=National Geographic Books }}

{{reflist}}

{{improve categories|date=January 2022}}

Category:Lambda Literary Award–winning works

Category:American memoirs

Category:LGBTQ literature in the United States

Category:2020 LGBTQ-related literary works

Category:2020 non-fiction books

Category:Books about writers

Category:Tin House books