This is a review of "Slayers, Every One of Us," a memoir co-written by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs, focusing on their experience navigating divorce while maintaining a creative partnership centered around their podcast about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
The book presents a unique perspective on divorce, highlighting the continuation of a creative partnership amidst the ending of their romantic relationship. The authors utilize alternating sections to provide individual perspectives, with Russo presenting a more emotional approach and Youngs offering a more sardonic view.
SLAYERS, EVERY ONE OF US: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On, by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs
“The story you most often hear about divorce, about heartbreak, is the story of an ending. A light switch flicked into the Off position,” writes Jenny Owen Youngs in “Slayers, Every One of Us,” a memoir written with her ex-wife, Kristin Russo. “But what if you clicked the bulb back on?”
Restoring the power is the dominant theme in their book, with that light source being the creative partnership the two achieved through their podcast about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” even as their romantic partnership went dark five years after their 2013 marriage.
The book is narrated by both women, with each providing her perspective on their shared history in alternating sections. Russo (a speaker, a consultant and an “Italian-born, Long Island-raised triple fire sign”) comes off as the more ebullient and emotional partner. Youngs (a musician and songwriter who has “always been a bit more grounded in reality”) is more sardonic and taciturn.
Boom-and-bust romance memoirs are common, but mix in fervent fandom and original music and we’ve got ourselves a different approach to the well-trod ground here — all spurred on by a 1990s television show about a girl with superhuman strength fighting evil with help from her pals. (The book’s title comes from an inspirational speech, given by Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, to a room full of young women in the final episode of the series: “I say my power should be our power. … Slayers, every one of us.”)
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