"The analysis presents bracing assessments of network TV touchstones, and Tongson's wit is a treat. Thought-provoking and full of fresh insights, this entertains and enlightens." (Publishers Weekly) "What begins as a searing cultural critique of the prevalence of sentimental, whitewashed television showsThis is Us, Parenthood, etc.unfurls brilliantly into a soul-stirring reflection on personal and cultural grief and the palliative effects of plainness. Tongson exquisitely captures what it means for queer people in particular to find solace in the quotidian." (Electric Literature) "Emotionally cathartic. The critic's wrestling with the compromises that the pleasures of mass culture inevitably demand is heartfelt. In a word, it's normal." (Arts Fuse) "A personal and heartfelt ode to the problematic pleasures of normalcy. Insightful, relatable, and funny, Tongson is a master at twirling the personal around the political, giving us a layered, brainy investigation into this sneaky cultural manipulation." (Michelle Tea, author of Valencia) "Normporn is a funny, bracing and unrelentingly smart journey through the pop culture of the last twenty years to explain the confused, damaged state of American identity. Karen Tongson takes a look at everything from WandaVision to True Blood to parse out the conflicting ideas of what America is and should be. It's that rarest of books, a searingly intellectual cultural analysis that's fun and dishy enough for the beach." (Guy Branum, author of My Life As A Goddess) "Tongson's accessible, witty and jargon-free prose and her academic rigour produce a balance between affective subjectivity and intellectual inquiry, demonstrating how it is possible to critically approach cherished television series while at the same time leaving space for personal enjoyment and emotional response." (Continuum) "Tongson artfully weaves together fiction and reality to explore the desire for normalcy... This book is likely to be of interest to scholars of multiple disciplines, including media, queer, and gender studies. Tongson's work is deep yet also approachable, making it an ideal book for a wide range of audiences." - Megan Vladoiu (Journal of Gender Studies) "Not only does Tongson engage with an impressive number of texts, but she does so in an eloquent, insightful, and oftentimes witty manner. Normporn offers an important contribution to the field of television and queer studies and is a must read for anyone interested in the topic of queer media representations." - Kamil Zapasnik (Journal of Popular Culture) "This book is an example of a brilliantly executed scholarly reflection on the ways in which media simultaneously portray and affect our perception of normalcy, written from a very personal, albeit theoretically sound and rigorous perspectiveNormporn offers an important contribution to the field of television and queer studies and is a must read for anyone interested in the topic of queer media representations." (The Journal of Popular Culture) "In this astute mix of memoir, media criticism, and social/political analysis, Tongson demonstrates what it means to be complicit in, and implicated by, regressive and transgressive media messages and representations." (CHOICE) "The unstable mutating gulf between queerness and normalcy generates fantasythe porn in normpornand tension in equal parts, and their resonance is what comforts even as it causes ejaculative tears... a study of strong but irresolvable feelings that can never find cohesion as long as they are subject to political inconsistency." (GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies)
