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gossamerwingedgazelle's review against another edition
3.0
Be aware that this book has some insults for virtually everyone. There is homophobia and gender stereotypes, plus ideas insulting religion and capitalism. Fromm's ideas about "primitive societies" are racist and patronizing, and his ideas about religion seem to not care at all if they are based in fact. However, he also has useful things to say. His basic premise is that the biggest problem for humans is the misery caused by our separateness from each other. The best resolution for this is love, but it is hard to achieve that love, because everyone is caught up in modern capitalism, which has twisted every aspect of human nature. The love that we should be looking for is not simplistic romantic love, where you fall in love and everything is magically perfect. We should actively engage in our lives (mindfulness) and cultivate an attitude of brotherly love (loving kindness) toward others. Only when we become decent people who can wish the best for our partner without looking for personal gain can we actually find real love that will allow us to get over that misery of isolation.
Was this the best book ever? No. Did it change the way I go about my life? Not really. However, I did find his description of the commodification of love to be incredibly funny (and accurate), and I thought that some of the things he had to say were really interesting.
Was this the best book ever? No. Did it change the way I go about my life? Not really. However, I did find his description of the commodification of love to be incredibly funny (and accurate), and I thought that some of the things he had to say were really interesting.
trajandobrev's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
En oppfordring til å tenke nytt om hva kjærlighet er, og hvordan den bør praktiseres.
Boka blir til tider dypt politisk og samfunnskritisk – dette var ikke mine favorittpartier.
Boka blir til tider dypt politisk og samfunnskritisk – dette var ikke mine favorittpartier.
brisingr's review against another edition
2.0
I guess I expected something more/different, but I loved the overall idea of it.
lonelytown's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
👍 Read for school and enjoyed it thoroughly! 🙂↕️
whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
4.0
My review of this on another site was "Anyone who has ever been, is, or plans to be in a relationship should read this book." In many ways I still feel that way, albeit less dogmatically. It is an extremely earnest and, in my opinion, wise take on all the different types of love. There is a religious aspect that I do not particularly agree with, but nothing that takes away from the message of the book. It really is a wonderful book.
aprilconnolly's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
I read this book for a book club and it probably isnt a book that I would have picked for myself but that's exactly the thing i like about book club!
The reason I didn't care for this book was that most of the content was critical, how we are loving wrong, with very little helpful information about how we can improve our loving relationships.
It was also extremely heteronormative with a lot of talk about the roles that men and women perform. It was clearly written with mostly an male audience in mind since all of the examples the author provides are from a male perspective, but since he spends so much time talking about the ways that men and women are different, it felt like he was never speaking to female perspective.
He also completely dismissed heterosexual love which I obviously take issue with.
There were lots of lines and observations that I liked! And it brought on really good discussion amongst our group, but I didnt love the reading experience, nor do I feel like I took away anything particularly profound from the book that has stuck with me.
The reason I didn't care for this book was that most of the content was critical, how we are loving wrong, with very little helpful information about how we can improve our loving relationships.
It was also extremely heteronormative with a lot of talk about the roles that men and women perform. It was clearly written with mostly an male audience in mind since all of the examples the author provides are from a male perspective, but since he spends so much time talking about the ways that men and women are different, it felt like he was never speaking to female perspective.
He also completely dismissed heterosexual love which I obviously take issue with.
There were lots of lines and observations that I liked! And it brought on really good discussion amongst our group, but I didnt love the reading experience, nor do I feel like I took away anything particularly profound from the book that has stuck with me.
dylanberman's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly would be a five except for the singular paragraph where he just says gay people don’t actually experience genuine love and moves on lol. Very very insightful and important book though it’s not worth writing off over that.