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sammieunfiltered's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book deserves more than 5 ⭐ I've been wanting to listen to this book for a while and I'm glad I finally did. I listened to this book on Libro.fm and I felt my spirit move with every word that I heard from Tricia Hersey. I honestly believe that this book was a love and care letter meant for me, my family, and everyone that I know. I will be listening to this book over and over again throughout my life. I'm going to buy the printed version not only for me, but also for my friends and family.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent
mads_jpg's review
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
2.5
I really liked the message of the book and definitely took away some good tactics from it (I've already limited my screen time and social media usage) but the writing itself just didn't land with me. Which is surprising given that it came at the perfect time in my life, as I've been overworked for weeks staying up past midnight ever night. I even fell asleep reading this on the tram at one point.
I found it incredibly repetitive (if I have to see the word "bamboozled" or "portal" one more time) and it frequently referenced other books to the point where I felt like I was reading them instead (Octavia Butler especially). The writing read more like a mantra or wishy-washy meditation, and that might work for some people but I just didn't connect with it. Even though the book has distinct chapters I felt like I was just rereading the last one each time. I think this would've worked better if it was either edited heavily or written as more of a memoir. That being said, I still think people should read it or at least look into the Nap Ministry.
I found it incredibly repetitive (if I have to see the word "bamboozled" or "portal" one more time) and it frequently referenced other books to the point where I felt like I was reading them instead (Octavia Butler especially). The writing read more like a mantra or wishy-washy meditation, and that might work for some people but I just didn't connect with it. Even though the book has distinct chapters I felt like I was just rereading the last one each time. I think this would've worked better if it was either edited heavily or written as more of a memoir. That being said, I still think people should read it or at least look into the Nap Ministry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Classism, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
butlerebecca's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, and Slavery
softgalaxy's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life. Absolutely life-changing. “Rest is resistance” is a simple phrase that I’ll carry with me for all my days.
This book has confirmed what I’ve felt all my life - that life and people are going too fast. What has changed for me is that I shouldn’t feel ashamed at resting. As a disabled person, rest is how I manage my illnesses, but even medical professionals have told me that I need to “keep going and push forward”.
The answer to my queries is in fact: capitalism is the problem. Always has been.
To refuse capitalism and to rest is what our bodies need to do. We need to dream.
This book has confirmed what I’ve felt all my life - that life and people are going too fast. What has changed for me is that I shouldn’t feel ashamed at resting. As a disabled person, rest is how I manage my illnesses, but even medical professionals have told me that I need to “keep going and push forward”.
The answer to my queries is in fact: capitalism is the problem. Always has been.
To refuse capitalism and to rest is what our bodies need to do. We need to dream.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, and Racism
Minor: Slavery and Death of parent
peachani's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
3.75
I was halfway through this book before I realized it was not and would not be a typical self help book with suggestions in every section—so I started over. It is indeed a manifesto. To that end, it is repetitive so the point gets across. Unfortunately, that meant I skimmed through the last pages. It's probably best to read 3-4 pages at a time and reflect.
Rest as resistance is revolutionary. It is counterculture. You will meet with resistance should you choose to embrace this philosophy (and you – we – should). The author successfully lays down the foundation and it's up to us to implement it.
Sticking points for me were religion and social media. I was exposed to Christianity through an extremely white, colonialist lens. Reading this made me wonder aloud what my relationship with God would be like had I experienced Christianity through the lens of Black liberation. As for social media, the author believes it is mostly negative. I don't necessarily disagree, but I strongly believe that it can also be a force for good, for truth-telling, for community. After all, I heard about The Nap Ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter. However, it is possible those opportunities dwindle as social media platforms become ever more entwined with capitalism. The "need" for dollars strongly interferes with our behavior, turning these opportunities for connection into a desperate chase for virality, which can translate into dollars (e.g., the worst people saying inflammatory things to get money from Twitter Blue).
Overall, I found this a difficult read, despite already being in the process of embracing rest as a method of decolonization and self care. This will challenge you and your beliefs, but it's for the best.
Rest as resistance is revolutionary. It is counterculture. You will meet with resistance should you choose to embrace this philosophy (and you – we – should). The author successfully lays down the foundation and it's up to us to implement it.
Sticking points for me were religion and social media. I was exposed to Christianity through an extremely white, colonialist lens. Reading this made me wonder aloud what my relationship with God would be like had I experienced Christianity through the lens of Black liberation. As for social media, the author believes it is mostly negative. I don't necessarily disagree, but I strongly believe that it can also be a force for good, for truth-telling, for community. After all, I heard about The Nap Ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter. However, it is possible those opportunities dwindle as social media platforms become ever more entwined with capitalism. The "need" for dollars strongly interferes with our behavior, turning these opportunities for connection into a desperate chase for virality, which can translate into dollars (e.g., the worst people saying inflammatory things to get money from Twitter Blue).
Overall, I found this a difficult read, despite already being in the process of embracing rest as a method of decolonization and self care. This will challenge you and your beliefs, but it's for the best.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy, Slavery, Death of parent, and Racism
Minor: Medical content and Racial slurs
jayisreading's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I think Hersey could have written an essay for the point she wanted to make and come out of it with a stronger case than writing a book/manifesto. At its core, the concept of rest being a form of resistance is a great one. I really enjoyed how Hersey broke down the importance of rest in the introduction, especially to show that this is more than a matter of physical health.
After the introduction, though, Hersey started to lose me, and I felt that she was just repeating her points. I also feel that there are words that she used such as capitalism that required a little more contextualizing. She threw a lot of these words around to the point that they started to lose meaning. In addition, I felt that Hersey made some claims that weren't supported by evidence.
The book also ended up being far more spiritual than I expected. I didn't particularly enjoy the spiritual aspects, though this is absolutely a matter of personal taste. It didn't negatively impact the overall points Hersey was making.
Again, I think this manifesto could have been an essay and would have been far more compelling to read. I felt that the book started dragging a lot because it was so repetitive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Colonisation and Violence
aellwy's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Death of parent
laurareads87's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
A visionary celebration of the transformative potentiality of a politics of refusal of capitalism's demands to be perpetually productive, to justify one's existence with output, and to only rest to be able to work harder later. Hersey defines rest as "anything that slows you down enough to allow your body and mind to connect in the deepest way" [83] and articulates rest as resistance against white supremacy and capitalism, rooting her work in the inspiration of, and in conversation with, ancestral wisdom, Black Liberation and Womanist theologies, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, maroon histories, and Afrofuturism. Hersey asks the reader to make space to imagine, to envision possibilities beyond capitalist grind culture, to claim the divine and inherent right to rest and be at leisure, to interrogate what might be possible when we envision socially just futures from a position of well restedness and deep connection to embodied wisdom and spirit. I am grateful for this book, will be grappling with it ongoingly, & recommend it wholeheartedly.
<i>Content warnings:</i> slavery, racism, sexism, death of a parent, grief
<i>Content warnings:</i> slavery, racism, sexism, death of a parent, grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Sexism, Death of parent, and Grief
stevia333k's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
5.0
I've been wanting an abolitionist therapy lens for months, and this helps with that need. As a disabled queer person i burned myself out too quickly in life & now I have to deal with multiple meltdowns/shutdowns per day to say the least of it. This book helps me attend to that need
I got this book via an audiobook from my library & I'm considering buying it because the narrator talks so slow that I can use this the way some people play instrumental music, that is a way to calm down (like I have to reduce stimuli, so music can in fact be stimulating. Listening to the book as I relax helps me get over the guilt of needing to take care of my body. It helps me spit back out the poison of the school to orison pipeline system that fucked up my body & burned it out so quickly.)
Please note this book is awkward to label with content warnings about because yeah it talks about systems of oppression because it seeks to combat/resist those. It talks about grind culture as deriving from slavery. And you can't just rest, the rest needs to be combined with anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-sexism. But the book is also healing. I feel this is the case with other books I read, but from my perspective as an autistic person like this book is talking about like how to cope with being triggered, so that's a second layer other books usually don't have.
I got this book via an audiobook from my library & I'm considering buying it because the narrator talks so slow that I can use this the way some people play instrumental music, that is a way to calm down (like I have to reduce stimuli, so music can in fact be stimulating. Listening to the book as I relax helps me get over the guilt of needing to take care of my body. It helps me spit back out the poison of the school to orison pipeline system that fucked up my body & burned it out so quickly.)
Please note this book is awkward to label with content warnings about because yeah it talks about systems of oppression because it seeks to combat/resist those. It talks about grind culture as deriving from slavery. And you can't just rest, the rest needs to be combined with anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-sexism. But the book is also healing. I feel this is the case with other books I read, but from my perspective as an autistic person like this book is talking about like how to cope with being triggered, so that's a second layer other books usually don't have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Body shaming, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Bullying, Grief, Slavery, Classism, Racism, and Torture
zombiezami's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
This book wasn’t quite what I expected. I’ve followed the Nap Ministry blog for a while, and I really love the insights, audacity, and creativity of the author. However, because I’m familiar with her blog, it was easy to see the parts that were lifted almost wholesale and placed into the book.
This book was at its best when the author was sharing her personal experiences and examples of events she’s hosted. She definitely touched on community care in name, but I wish she had drawn a deeper connection to how community care facilitates rest. I also thought the connections to slavery and maroon communities were excellent.
A lot of this book felt repetitive. When the repetition was used well, I could tell it was to help a particular message sink in. Other times it was like, “how much do I have to be reminded that we work at a machine-like pace?? I get it!!”
Listening to the audiobook, I loved listening to the author’s voice.
This book was at its best when the author was sharing her personal experiences and examples of events she’s hosted. She definitely touched on community care in name, but I wish she had drawn a deeper connection to how community care facilitates rest. I also thought the connections to slavery and maroon communities were excellent.
A lot of this book felt repetitive. When the repetition was used well, I could tell it was to help a particular message sink in. Other times it was like, “how much do I have to be reminded that we work at a machine-like pace?? I get it!!”
Listening to the audiobook, I loved listening to the author’s voice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racism, Medical content, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Violence