Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I might do a more in-depth review later on, but for now I chose to do my review in my personal book journal. There's just a LOT that this book made me think about and a LOT of Sontag-praise that I'd be embarrassed to put on blast here. (How does she manage to make Art out of literary criticism while being meta and speaking on Art Itself and using that Art to make her Point at the end? like, what the hell?) I read an article recently where the author said they wished Sontag were alive to see her tear shit apart on twitter, and yeah, I feel that, but also, I wouldn't wish anyone to live through the hellscape we're all in now :/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, War
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
I liked her reflective and engaging writing style. Before reading this, I didn't know much about war photography, but now I feel exposed to a lot of seminal work in the field. I especially liked how she discussed the almost voyeuristic pleasure the audience might get from pictures of war and suffering, especially when it feels distant. After reading this i am adding "On Photography" and "Notes on 'Camp'" to my reading list.
Should be essential reading in our contemporary image-obsessed paradigm. Sontag's willingness to critique herself publicly and thoroughly alongside thinkers, like Virginia Woolf, is incredibly admirable, but the overall beauty of this essay comes from its range while remaining insanely succinct. This final essay emanates pure style, all the while Sontag is comparing painting to photography, lampooning a specific sect of French thinkers'/the bourgeoisie's relationship with images of suffering, the way we violate exoticized bodies in ways we never would those that we believe are more like us, the repugnant, bloated nature of television news, photography's blurring of the objective and subjective, etc. Every page is filled with quotes that you will want to share with anyone in the room with you while you read.
This book doesn't really need my praises but way too many quotes from it ended up in my stories on IG so, yeah, loved it.