Trainwreck - Sady Doyle - A Short Summary & Review
Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear....and Why - Sady Doyle - A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
Trainwreck examines how society has historically labeled outspoken, creative, emotional, and ambitious women as “crazy.” Moving through history, culture, and media, Sady Doyle traces how women who step outside acceptable boundaries are mythologized, punished, dismissed, or destroyed — then remembered primarily for their supposed madness rather than their ideas.
From philosophers and political thinkers to celebrities and artists, Doyle shows how female behavior that would be tolerated, even celebrated, in men is pathologized in women. Genius becomes hysteria. Passion becomes instability. Anger becomes evidence.
Rather than offering a tidy theory, Trainwreck maps a pattern: when women threaten power structures, their credibility is undermined by reframing them as emotional, irrational, or dangerous. The result is a long cultural tradition of cautionary tales masquerading as biographies.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
This is a favorite on my feminist shelf.
Doyle writes with humor and clarity, but also with bite. Trainwreck is one of those books that makes you laugh, wince, and then suddenly recognize patterns you can’t unsee. “Crazy,” she argues, is rarely about behavior; it’s about who is allowed to have power, autonomy, and a public voice.
“Crazy is as crazy does” becomes a useful lens here. The label is applied selectively, often retroactively, and almost always to women who refuse to be small or quiet or pleasing. Meanwhile, male genius is routinely excused for excess, instability, obsession, and cruelty.
I’m firmly on #TeamWollstonecraft, and Doyle makes a compelling case for why women who demand education, autonomy, and intellectual authority are so often reframed as threats rather than thinkers.
This is not a soft book. It’s smart, confrontational, and necessary, especially for readers interested in feminism, media narratives, and the stories we keep telling ourselves about women who don’t behave.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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