Scan barcode
sharanyasarathy's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
nadia's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Out of the Women's Prize Nonfiction Shortlist books I've read so far, this book had the strongest start for me and I thought it'd end up shooting straight to the top of the rankings. I loved how the thesis, concept, and context was laid out, but then...
...the book, to me, started to lose its way and go all over the place. I couldn't keep the thread of Klein's argument straight. There were so many interesting ideas and areas of history, politics, and philosophy to explore, but it felt like a lot of the topics could have been books in their own right.
Also, I don't if it's just me but I thought that Klein relied way too much on the plot points of other novels and movies to support her argument, spoiling that content for people who haven't consumed it yet. I skipped several pages so that Roth's Operation Shylock wasn't spoiled for me.
Some of the other works spoiled to varying degrees: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Double (Dostoyevsky), the "Eight Bites" short story from Her Body and Other Parties, and the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. (And there are one or two others I didn't bother to note down).
Current Women's Prize 2024 Non-Fiction Shortlist rankings:
1. Code Dependent
2. A Flat Place
3. Thunderclap
4. Doppelganger
...the book, to me, started to lose its way and go all over the place. I couldn't keep the thread of Klein's argument straight. There were so many interesting ideas and areas of history, politics, and philosophy to explore, but it felt like a lot of the topics could have been books in their own right.
Also, I don't if it's just me but I thought that Klein relied way too much on the plot points of other novels and movies to support her argument, spoiling that content for people who haven't consumed it yet. I skipped several pages so that Roth's Operation Shylock wasn't spoiled for me.
Some of the other works spoiled to varying degrees: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Double (Dostoyevsky), the "Eight Bites" short story from Her Body and Other Parties, and the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. (And there are one or two others I didn't bother to note down).
Current Women's Prize 2024 Non-Fiction Shortlist rankings:
1. Code Dependent
2. A Flat Place
3. Thunderclap
4. Doppelganger
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide and War
sandpiiper's review against another edition
5.0
well i wrote a review of this book and then it decided to delete itself so here’s a shot at re-phrasing the 5 paragraph essay i had written out before.
“Vertigo invades when the world we thought we knew no longer holds. The known world is crumbling. That’s okay. It was an edifice stitched together with denial and disavowal, with unseeing and unknowing, with mirrors and shadows. It needed to crash. Now, in the rubble, we can make something more reliable, more worthy of our trust, more able to survive the coming shocks.”
wow. this is easily my book of the year, perhaps even of the last few years. this really blew me away. i’ve always admired klein’s work, and it’s hard to pick “the best” of her books. but this one is definitely my favorite.
klein manages to somehow combine critical political analysis — discussing anti-vax wellness culture, the rise of alt-right/q-anon conspiracy, personal branding, palestine (especially salient now, and incredibly incisive given that it was written before the most recent attack on palestine), psychoanalysis, and more — with a deeply moving and personal memoir, tracking her political/intellectual/emotional journey dealing with her own doppelgänger, while somehow never losing the thread throughout.
i also appreciated klein’s genuine care and dedication to progressive moments. while citing the failures of leftist movements in the modern age as a primary reason for the rise in “diagonalist” + alt-right popularity, she cites our losses not as a reason to give up, but rather as a motive for trying harder, for making things better.
lastly, i think doppelgänger tackles some of the most important political issues of the early 2020s, or at least my worst political fears and anxieties from the last few years. klein somehow manages to take those and not only make those fears digestible, but also turns them into sites of opportunity and inspiration.
obviously, klein isn’t perfect. a lot of her arguments have been argued before by authors less recognized than her, and nothing here is particularly Revolutionary. there’s some real criticism to be made of her belief in electoral politics or whatever other Leftist Check Marks she doesn’t pass, but that doesn’t detract from the rest that the book has to offer.
overall, i think doppelgänger is a must-read for anyone committed to leftist politics in the 2020s. naomi klein you will always be famous to me
“Vertigo invades when the world we thought we knew no longer holds. The known world is crumbling. That’s okay. It was an edifice stitched together with denial and disavowal, with unseeing and unknowing, with mirrors and shadows. It needed to crash. Now, in the rubble, we can make something more reliable, more worthy of our trust, more able to survive the coming shocks.”
wow. this is easily my book of the year, perhaps even of the last few years. this really blew me away. i’ve always admired klein’s work, and it’s hard to pick “the best” of her books. but this one is definitely my favorite.
klein manages to somehow combine critical political analysis — discussing anti-vax wellness culture, the rise of alt-right/q-anon conspiracy, personal branding, palestine (especially salient now, and incredibly incisive given that it was written before the most recent attack on palestine), psychoanalysis, and more — with a deeply moving and personal memoir, tracking her political/intellectual/emotional journey dealing with her own doppelgänger, while somehow never losing the thread throughout.
i also appreciated klein’s genuine care and dedication to progressive moments. while citing the failures of leftist movements in the modern age as a primary reason for the rise in “diagonalist” + alt-right popularity, she cites our losses not as a reason to give up, but rather as a motive for trying harder, for making things better.
lastly, i think doppelgänger tackles some of the most important political issues of the early 2020s, or at least my worst political fears and anxieties from the last few years. klein somehow manages to take those and not only make those fears digestible, but also turns them into sites of opportunity and inspiration.
obviously, klein isn’t perfect. a lot of her arguments have been argued before by authors less recognized than her, and nothing here is particularly Revolutionary. there’s some real criticism to be made of her belief in electoral politics or whatever other Leftist Check Marks she doesn’t pass, but that doesn’t detract from the rest that the book has to offer.
overall, i think doppelgänger is a must-read for anyone committed to leftist politics in the 2020s. naomi klein you will always be famous to me
tarnya_smith's review
2.5
I'd waited a long time to borrow this from the library and although I found it super interesting to listen to and like a situation that probably doesn't occur that often at all. I still ended up losing interest, it felt like it eventually went over the same topics. Shame, I would have had it shorter and more punchy.