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matthew4's review
3.0
I spent a long period going through this tome, and admittedly, failed to extract much from the process. Whilst many of the ideas introduced in 'Critique of Everyday Life', they are difficult to understand in their depth and intricacy that they deserve. This is partially due to Lefebvre's writing style, which was apparently a literal transcription written by his wife, Henriette Valet, of speeches he made to her in-between puffs of his pipe (which, if true, means she deserves a huge amount of credit for what I imagine was a very long and difficult task).
However, even if the details are hard to absorb, the overarching message of this text, that the 'everyday' is dominated by commodity consumption, and we must counter this by advocating for a renewed politics of leisure time. Further to this, the sheer time-frame these three volumes cover (almost four decades) is impressive and useful in of itself.
My rating of 3/5 is probably slightly harsh in respect of all this, although I hope to return to this text at some point in the future and give it the greater time and energy it deserves, and hopefully in doing so will be also able to give it a higher rating.
However, even if the details are hard to absorb, the overarching message of this text, that the 'everyday' is dominated by commodity consumption, and we must counter this by advocating for a renewed politics of leisure time. Further to this, the sheer time-frame these three volumes cover (almost four decades) is impressive and useful in of itself.
My rating of 3/5 is probably slightly harsh in respect of all this, although I hope to return to this text at some point in the future and give it the greater time and energy it deserves, and hopefully in doing so will be also able to give it a higher rating.
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