Scan barcode
nearfutures's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up The Mother of All Questions because I really enjoyed Solnit's more well-known collection, Men Explain Things To Me. This collection is a solid sequel, although I have the same minor complaints that I did with the first book: some of the essays are stronger than others, and Solnit tends to re-use the same statistics and anecdotes. The latter point is fine when the essays are read separately, but begins to feel repetitive if you read the book all at once, as I did.
My favorite essays were in the latter half of the book, where Solnit moves more into commentary on specific literary texts. Her ideas are incisive, thoughtful, and original. I particularly enjoyed "80 Books No Woman Should Read," her sharp response to "The 60 Best Books Every Man Should Read" published in Esquire, and her subsequent reflection on the enormous Internet response and backlash titled "Men Explain Lolita to Me." Her final essay in the book, titled "Giantess," was my favorite -- it is her love letter to the 1956 George Stevens film Giant. Her passion and relationship with the film (and other texts) was fascinating and well-articulated.
I thought the weakest essay was "A Short History of Silence." The essay is over fifty pages and divided into four parts with poetic names, i.e. "I. The Ocean around the Archipelago", and summarizes the history of silencing in relation with women and violence in our culture. The divisions between parts felt arbitrary to me and the pay-off for the length was simply not there.
Much of Solnit's writing synthesizes what I find are fairly mainstream liberal and feminist ideas about policy and culture. While I can appreciate essays in this category as well-constructed, I generally don't learn anything new from them. But when Solnit writes about specific media (as in "Giantess"), the essays are much more original -- these were the essays I enjoyed more. That said, I think the collection is worth reading as a whole and your specific familiarity/relationship with feminist praxis will influence which essays are the most powerful and informative.
My favorite essays were in the latter half of the book, where Solnit moves more into commentary on specific literary texts. Her ideas are incisive, thoughtful, and original. I particularly enjoyed "80 Books No Woman Should Read," her sharp response to "The 60 Best Books Every Man Should Read" published in Esquire, and her subsequent reflection on the enormous Internet response and backlash titled "Men Explain Lolita to Me." Her final essay in the book, titled "Giantess," was my favorite -- it is her love letter to the 1956 George Stevens film Giant. Her passion and relationship with the film (and other texts) was fascinating and well-articulated.
I thought the weakest essay was "A Short History of Silence." The essay is over fifty pages and divided into four parts with poetic names, i.e. "I. The Ocean around the Archipelago", and summarizes the history of silencing in relation with women and violence in our culture. The divisions between parts felt arbitrary to me and the pay-off for the length was simply not there.
Much of Solnit's writing synthesizes what I find are fairly mainstream liberal and feminist ideas about policy and culture. While I can appreciate essays in this category as well-constructed, I generally don't learn anything new from them. But when Solnit writes about specific media (as in "Giantess"), the essays are much more original -- these were the essays I enjoyed more. That said, I think the collection is worth reading as a whole and your specific familiarity/relationship with feminist praxis will influence which essays are the most powerful and informative.
dani7silver's review against another edition
3.0
Rebecca Solnit is a lovely author, with many of her books being an enjoyable read for me. From my own experience, this book feels a bit naive, and now a bit dated. The way she approaches history at times gives off the feeling that she is not a historian- which she is not. This sentiment is strongly felt in her essay "Man the Hunter", which interestingly brings up Sahlins 1972 book "Stone Age Economics", but misses out on a wide amount of feminist and gender literature coming from the archaeological and anthropological fields from the 1980s onwards. I think it is a lack of knowledge due to her background which could make some of these historical aspects of her feminist writing seem less researched. Otherwise an interesting read!
chloj_805's review against another edition
5.0
Brief, but with plenty of depth. Come for Solnit's thoughtful critiques of modes of literary and embodied silencing -- stay for her sharp asides on how Jonathan Franzen is trash. Sadly, chapter on the great male allies of standup has not aged well (C.K. and Aziz top the list).
alexisvana's review against another edition
5.0
I think is my new favorite Solnit essay collection (or maybe it's just that every time I read Solnit it's my new favorite essay collection?)
oliviadobrea's review against another edition
5.0
Great essays on feminism and women's condition in the 21st century.
sarahdenn27's review against another edition
5.0
The first essays of the book were AMAZING. But I got to the Lolita one and was sadly disappointed. Solnit is an incredible feminist writer though, and these essays were powerful and extremely well-written.
kris10reading's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75