anulekha
i want to rate this higher, i really do but...
Firstly, let me commend Ratajkowski on her writing. There is no doubt that she is an intellect and a brilliant writer. She is able to beautifully convey her own complex nature; it is raw and candid. She knows how to tell a story.
The problem lies in the marketing of the book as a feminist work. It is not.
Ratajkowski seems to be so out of touch with reality and completely unaware of her own privilege. I don't mean to minimise her struggles at all but she never addresses her privilege as a conventionally attractive, skinny, relatively wealthy, cis white woman. She doesn't take into account the struggles of any other marginalised groups of women, which would've been totally acceptable if only she didn't dub this is a “feminist” book. Non-intersectional “feminist” books are essentially just self serving and relatable to few. Books addressing body image and body positivity are good but feminism should never stop there.
Ratajkowski doesn't write much in terms of critiquing the current harmful capitalist systems, she simply talks about how she found success within these capitalist structures. The book doesn't condemn the modelling industry as a whole but rather her own mistreatment within the industry.
Her lack of awareness surrounding her own privilege is especially evident in the way she talks about money, complaining about buying back a picture of herself for $80k, which she can't afford because she's only 23 so she had to split it with her boyfriend. What 23 year old has $40k lying around to buy their own photo that's already out on the internet. I understand that it was her way of reclaiming her body and more power to you but to not even regard the privileged position she's in, felt extremely insensitive.
She also often universalizes her own experiences, not realizing that most people -women- lead lives that are diametrically different.
All that being said, her personal experiences of objectification, sexual assault, exploitation are all still very real and traumatic, and so as a memoir, this is a powerful and well written book. It's just not a feminist book.
Emily, please keep writing.
There are so many interesting, yet disturbing, facts (all backed by reliable studies) throughout this book that I can't fit into a review without quoting the entire book. It is an absolute must read for everyone. And I mean everyone - parents, teens, CEOs, government officials, artists, anxiety driven people, people with adhd - everyone.
Two things that stuck with me the most is sleep's correlation with autism and the impact of early school start times on crucial adolescent brain development. Although evidence of linkages between sleep and autism is very limited, and mainly correlative, the book provides enough to suggest some correlation and therefore an early diagnosis.
The second, is school timings. The circadian rhythm for early teens runs a few hours behind those of adults, which is they tend to stay up later at night. However, the ridiculously early school start times in most schools in the US disrupt the completion of their sleep cycle causing them to lose their REM sleep, which is crucial in the brain development of teens, particularly the increase in our ability to “recognise and therefore successfully navigate the kaleidoscope of socio=emotional signals that are abundant in human culture”. This topic is one I'm most concerned about considering kids are the future of our society, and our society ain't looking so good right now. It's insane to me to think about what society could've looked like if schools just let kids sleep longer. Maybe there would be more empathy in the world, less violence, less prejudice.
In his last chapter, Walker goes through his vision for sleep on different levels of society: Individual, educational, organisational, government, societal. Each of these areas are so well thought out and thought provoking, by looking into how advancements in technology can serve and improve sleep
on an individual level, how machine learning algorithms can assess an individual's sleep patterns and quality and adjust smart home tech to provide them with the best conditions for optimal sleep.
He further goes to suggest that long term highly accurate sleep tracking can be used predictively to show individuals increasing risk of conditions like Alzheimer's or cancer if they continue sleeping too little.
Overall, this is an incredibly informative book, very well laid out, well though out, backed by lots of studies, yet very accessible. I wish he explored the relationship between trauma and sleep more but I understand that's a whole other field of study that probably can't fit into a chapter.
Written as a relief and respite from the dark, sinful, and obsessive Humbert from Lolita, Pnin is about the comical misadventures of an expat Russian professor in America.
Nabokov's strength in his prose is assuredly indulgent and always a treat, but it does make for a slow read at times.
The eponymous hero of the novel is extremely loveable and peculiar and has won my heart in more ways than one.
6/10
I have (very fortunately) never lost someone close to me so it was a little difficult to relate to Didion. I also felt there was way too much of medical jargon and locations specific to Cali and NY, which meant nothing to me.
Nonetheless, I could tell that she's a great writer and I'm looking forward to reading her other work. This just wasn't the best first book to read.
“Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?”
Lady Macbeth was one of my favourite parts of this play. People can question her morality all they want but I personally admired her ambition and bravery in acting out her desires, and staying loyal to her husband. Meanwhile, Macbeth was initially too much of a coward to work towards his desires, killed his loyalty to the king, murdered his friend, went on a crazy killing spree, and then simply shrugged off his wife's death. Lady Macbeth is a freaking badass. I mean just look at this:
Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.Stop up the access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of natureShake my fell purpose, nor keep peace betweenThe effect and it!
3.5
i finished this book a couple days ago, and have been postponing a review until I can properly compose my thoughts. I've still not been able to do so but i'm going to attempt to review it anyway.
Identity is an exploration of individuality and identity within a relationship. How much of your identity is yours and how much of it is defined by your partner's (or even strangers') perception of you? The transience of beauty, attraction, desire is a recurring theme in kundera's work and this novel also explores that.
spoilers ahead
this idea of a fleeting reality is perpetuated by the “and then she woke up and it was all a dream” ending. While an ending like this might get you a B- in english class, it kind of works in this novel, because it was definitely premeditated and thought out. Kundera even inserts himself into the story at the end, having us question the entire novel. Who's dreaming? Was it always a dream or did it start during? If so, when did it start being a dream?
This whole notion intrigued me but also frustrated me to a certain extent. It was missing something. It needed a little more depth perhaps.
Definitely not Kundera's best work but it sure holds its own as a literary work.
This book was a pleasant surprise. I almost didn't buy it, I was just browsing at the bookstore but the cover was too pretty. I also didn't really know who Philip Dick was although it did sound familiar (I don't read a lot of sci-fi). Turns out he's the guy that wrote the book that Blade Runner was based on!
The book is a curated collection of interviews, leading up to quite literally his last interview, since he suffered a stroke that would kill him the very next day. A lot of people would call Philip K. Dick cuckoo, and I get why. The entire time I felt like I was having a conversation with a friend while we were high on shrooms. And I loved it. It had everything you could expect from a shroom session: paranoia, conversations of all sorts, deep, philosophical, silly, and crazy. It also has Dick feeling like he was literally God.
I think there's a lot in here that would spark interesting conversation with open minded people, which I really enjoyed. Everyone can agree that Dick was a little bit crazy (especially in that last interview) but I believe that to reach that stage of craziness, you had to have not been afraid of imagining the whackiest of realities. And for that I appreciate him.
Needless to say, I will be reading every book in this series.
“But a loving woman, idolises even the vices, even the villainy of her beloved being.”
I picked up this book simply on the single sentence description on the back of the book: Based on a St. Petersburg news report, Dostyevsky's searing tale of a man who drives his wife to suicide.
Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. This quick read was so eery and gripping. It's a story about oppression, emotional abuse, freedom (or lack thereof), and suicide. The narrator is a 41 year old narcissistic pawnbroker who marries a 16 year old girl because “the idea of our inequality pleased me”. he wants a silent subordinate beside whom he can feel powerful. but this subordination is an oppression of her young, curious and excitable spirit. eventually she believes she can only find freedom in death.
the wife's character is somewhat of an enigma, but I guess that's the point. The narrator himself couldn't understand her, didn't know why she killed herself. We see the entire story through the narrator's eyes, even feel empathy for him when he feels it for himself.
this book was great. I think it's extremely important for everyone to read. If you have had a traumatic experience/childhood, then this book will help you understand yourself and your trauma responses. If you have never really had any traumatic experiences, then this book will help you become more sympathetic and understanding of other people.
Kolk deals with the ‘what' and the ‘why' of trauma really well. What exactly does trauma do to your brain, and why your body reacts the way it does. Without going into my own personal trauma, I can say that it's helped me become kinder to myself and my body because I now understand that all the things I might dislike about myself is simply the way my body has adapted to trauma. My body has worked its hardest to keep me alive and survive through trauma.
It has helped explain certain things about myself such as my adhd, why I find it difficult to put into words exactly what I'm feeling (alexithymia), my social anxiety, and even my sexual experiences.
Kolk also addresses the ‘how' - how to deal with trauma and the trauma induced behaviours. He does so by going through the various forms of healing trauma, from meditation & yoga to neurofeedback to acting! Although I wish he went a bit deeper into the meditation/yoga I like that he doesn't try too hard to talk about the things that are out of the scope of his experience. That being said, because his experience is more in the medical field, there are no concrete suggestions on how you can deal with trauma when you can't really go to therapy.
This book is very extensive and science based, but told through lots of anecdotes. It's a little bit too anecdotal for my personal liking but nothing too extreme. Very accessible and easy to read.
maaaaaybe 2.5
I really thought i'd like it a lot more but it was a chore to finish honestly. rooney's writing, while it added to the plot in conversations with friends, here it does nothing. and definitely not enough to make the book enjoyable. In fact, I think it made it less enjoyable.
for a character driven story, the characters lacked personality. They were very bland and static. They felt very “fake”, which made me feel very distant from them. I struggled to connect with them emotionally.
The inner conflicts that they're supposedly struggling with came across as whiny sometimes.
Things like eating disorders and domestic abuse were kind of just thrown in there and not well explored, or rather were not handled properly.
The ending was really abrupt and came out of nowhere.
“This world has a higher meaning that transcends its worries, or nothing is true but those worries.”
Not a full review but I just wanted to talk about this sentence that really stuck with me. I guess because it's a little scary. I am agnostic (or an atheist since people don't like the label of agnostic), so to believe in a higher power/meaning doesn't come as naturally or comfortably to me. At the same time, the alternative, that my worries are the most real thing in the world, is frightening and somewhat disheartening.
I definitely don't believe this sentence to be the ultimate axiom of life but I do believe that there's some truth to it. so the question holds: do I want my worries to be real and indispensable, or do I want to believe that there's a meaning far greater?
maybe a 3.75
proper ozark vibes. a short novel about a widowed french-arabic translator for the ministry of justice, who decides to become a drug dealer!! lmao.
i loved the writing. the author does a great job in creating a very real and honest character with all the complexities of being a single, middle aged woman with a troubled background.
there's very raw and unapologetically honest opinions on topics like immigration, healthcare, politics and compassion for drug dealers.
the pacing was a little bit inconsistent
A little slow at the start but quickly picks up. It's a very mellow fantasy, magical realism novel with mild discussions about religion, philosophy, and identity. It's best to go into this completely blind so I won't say much but that it's best to approach it as a mystery rather than a fantasy.
I don't think I did this book justice as a reader so I will reread it at some point.
things i liked:
1. beautifully written
2. good representation
things i didn't like:
1. so much shit happened in Jude's childhood, maybe a little too much, made me a bit numb
2. plateaued a little in the middle of the book. while i understand it's meant to be more detail-oriented, it needed a little bit of more momentum from the story line.
3. i just wish Jude was a little bit less self-pitying
4. it felt a little feminine, maybe because it was written by a female author. she didn't understand the male psyche well enough (in my personal opinion)
