Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

3 reviews

owenwilsonbaby's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

“God I was sick of carrying around a woman’s body, or rather everything that attaches to it.”

Wow! My copy is dog-eared from the countless quotes I wanted to remember and include here. What a beautiful and articulate piece of writing about analysing and challenging loneliness and what a delicate and finely-wrought talent for storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Violence

clarabooksit's review against another edition

I’ve been ruminating on language, its fluidity and possibilities. How magnificent and frustrating is it that words can mean so many different things? 

 

Which brings me to this book: THE LONELY CITY: ADVENTURES IN THE ART OF BEING ALONE by Olivia Laing. I picked it up because of its title. It’s a fantastic title. 

 

I thought it was going to be a collection of essays about loneliness, primarily the author’s own, and the myriad ways that it transpires and affects our lives. I thought the focal point was going to be New York City as one of the most populous cities in the world and also one of the loneliest. I thought there was going to be adventure, nuance, well-crafted sentences and poignancy. 

 

What I did not expect was that the operative word in the title was “art.” 

 

This book is about lonely (white, male) artists who lived in NYC. (I didn’t finish the book, so it’s possible there’s diversity somewhere in it but I wouldn’t bet on it.)

 

While some of my expectations were sort of met—nuance, poignancy, a great deal of loneliness—I find myself disappointed. Is this my own fault? Entirely. But that title set up so much and my interpretation was all wrong. 

 

Does that make this a bad book? No, of course not. Does it make it not for me? Mostly yes. This might be callous but misunderstood male artists are not my thing. (And they’re nearly all male—the few women are defined by their relationships to said male artists.)

 

This is well-crafted—Laing weaves history, art, biography and social critique beautifully—and if you’re interested in the art world, particularly the latter half of the 20th century in the U.S., this might be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, and Addiction

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, and Bullying

aidrielle's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

olivia laing really dragged out some of my deepest, most shameful thoughts and displayed them all out here in her book, huh? reading this was unexpectedly comforting at times because, idk, misery loves company i guess. there's really something about having someone put your thoughts and emotions into such eloquent words. at the same time though, i'd caution everyone to really evaluate your current state of mind first before you dive into this book. it's extremely visceral, and there were times when i had to stop reading because it was just too much. reading this book about loneliness during one of the loneliest periods of human existence in the past few years isn't something to be taken lightly. this book was incredible but, idk, just really think about whether you can handle it or not before you start reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Violence