Review: How You Get Famous by Nicole Pasulka
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I am blessed to be sent some amazing books to review and I hope you’ll enjoy my review series through the summer. Let me know your thoughts on the review and tell me in the comments if you read the book or if you have any recommendations – especially if it’s an early copy! – for future reads. You can also email me at kgborland23@gmail.com with any pitches.
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Kyle (@kgborland)
This edition:
Book Review – How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn by Nicole Pasulka
Book Review – How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn by Nicole Pasulka
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Release Date: June 7, 2022
I received an advanced copy of How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn by Nicole Pasulka which details the rise of Brooklyn’s drag scene in the 2000’s and 2010’s through the lens of Merrie Cherry from The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, and Aja, Sasha Velour, and Thorgy Thor from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
As an avid Drag Race fan for a decade now, I was ecstatic to review a book that provided background on some of the most interesting queens in Drag Race herstory and a particular favorite of mine in Thorgy Thor. The book more than met my expectations, and in many instances exceeded them.
That said, some of the interludes to explain drag slang felt like awkward fourth wall breaks rather than a naturally flowing part of the narrative. I think a glossary would have worked great to allow the reader to look up needed references rather than assuming they don’t know. A lot of folks who will pick up this book will inevitably be fans of drag in more ways than one – trust their knowledge and stay in the story.
I loved getting to know more about these queens – I remember when the BK first came to Drag Race as a viewer – and being introduced to Merrie Cherry for the first time. The intimacy in How You Get Famous reveals that the biggest stars of NYC are just like the drag queens you meet at your local drag brunch, your library’s drag story hour, and of course your city’s gay bar(s). As the book makes clear, those very same queens are one phone call away from the biggest drag platform in history, but there’s only so many spots (no matter how many spinoffs they can churn out each year).
I always supported my local drag queens – whether it was here in San Francisco or back in Central Alabama – but after How You Get Famous, I’ve been making a point to get out even more and support these pillars of our communities. Through darkness and plagues, drag queens continue to create the art at the center of our most important and treasured spaces.
I hope this book is a success and we see more coverage of other cities’ drag scenes because there are so many regional stars worth highlighting in this way. Pasulka does a wonderful job celebrating drag and inviting us into the beginnings of Brooklyn as a drag capital that stands by itself and inspires artists all around the world every night of the week.
Update (6/1/2022): The original version of this review was 4 out of 5 stars with the contingency that if there had been pictures it would be 5 stars. I’ve been informed that official publication does include photos, so I’ve amended my review to be 5 out of 5. Buy this book!
