Tacky

Starred review from September 13, 2021
“As far as I’m concerned, tackiness is joyfulness,” writes Catapult columnist King in her charming debut essay collection. Across 14 pieces that examine media artifacts tacky and tackier, King plumbs her own history to explore her—and society’s—relationship to pop culture. In “Never Fall in Love at the Jersey Shore,” the author bonds with her ailing father over reality TV, while, in “Love, Peace, and Taco Grease,” she revels in the “technicolor majesty” of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and reflects on the aftermath of her relationship with her abusive ex-husband. King balances her desire to understand her own past with an examination of America’s cultural propensity for the tawdry; in an essay on the oft-maligned band Creed, for instance, she argues in favor of allowing oneself to embrace intense feeling and comes clean about her unwillingness to admit her love for the band publicly, writing, “I’d waved goodbye to sincerity too early.” The emotion that runs throughout makes for a powerful antidote to jaded nonchalance: “I hope that people learn how to have a fun time with the things they love, even the silly-seeming ones, before it’s too late.” King’s witty, conversational dip into nostalgia is a delight.

Starred review from December 10, 2021

To be tacky is to be perceived as not having good taste. Tackiness is in the eye of the beholder but is often confirmed through popular culture--activities that are called "trashy"; music that's labeled "boring" or "commercial." For King (host of the podcast Low Culture Boil), tacky things are worthy of exploration and celebration. Here, discussing topics like The Sims, Bath & Body Works scent sprays, and the band Creed, King explores growing up in the 2000s and leaning in to parts of culture that are often disparaged. This is a memoir soaked in the dying mall culture of the early aughts, smelling of burnt hairspray and self-tanner. VERDICT Basted in Cinnabon icing and coated in glittery lip gloss, King's book explores the joy of low culture. It would be a great addition for libraries looking to expand their memoir collections and appeal to millennial audiences.--Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis

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Starred review from September 15, 2021
A vibrant collection of essays from the host of the podcast Low Culture Boil celebrating the tacky and tatty. In her keen debut, King taps into her lifelong love affair with low culture in this joyful tribute to the tacky and argument that the "rightness so many intelligent, capable people pursue does not actually matter one bit." In the introduction, the author lays out her take on the topic: "As far as I'm concerned, tackiness is joyfulness. To be proudly tacky, your aperture for all the too-much feelings--angst, desire, joy--must be all the way open. You've got to be so much more ready to feel everything than anyone probably wants to be. It's a brutal way to live." Among the many topics King discusses: the music of Creed (and Scott Stapp's "gorgeous" face) and Meatloaf, sexting, American shopping malls, Cheesecake Factory ("straddle[s] an impossible border between casual and fancy"), and films and TV programs most critics disdain. Throughout, the author connects points in her life to cultural touchstones, showing a fearless willingness to share her personal history and view with readers. She argues that when comparing high and low culture, "what's low may drag out for years as slow and hideous as a funeral dirge, but it still hits hardest, every time." In the end, whether describing her teenage discovery of Hot Topic ("full of orange- and green-dyed heads as richly hued as Truffula trees"), her first marriage through the lens of the video game "The Sims," or delivering a heartfelt essay on her connection with her father over Jersey Shore, King deploys a reliably consistent blend of humor, emotion, and insight. "Life is short," she writes. "It's important to attach oneself to the pieces that stick, regardless of whether somebody else believes the stuff is any good." An engaging, hilarious, unabashed look at what we love in culture and why we should value it for what it is.

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