The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente ★★★★★

"I belong in the refrigerator. Because the truth is, I’m just food for a superhero. He’ll eat up my death and get the energy he needs to become a legend."

These are the stories of the dead: women’s voices of the Marvel/DC universe forever silenced, because after all, it was never their story. 

Until now.

The Jean Grey story hit me the hardest.

"I was used and tricked and thrown away, but I cannot be forgiven. It’s a funny thing. You go your whole life thinking you’re the protagonist, but really, you’re just the backstory. The boys shrug and go on, they fight and blow things up and half of them do much worse... and still get a key to the city, and eventually you’re just a story your high school boyfriend tells the kid he had with his new wife."

I’ll never see X-Men the same way again. Replacing Professor X with Professor Yes was genius. Who says No to someone with mind control?

The cover says this book is “a powerful combination of entertainment and sad truths” - that’s accurate.

Catherynne Valente’s writing is second to none: every page quotable, every page powerful. I must now read everything by her.