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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World by Sasha Sagan
7 reviews
eleanor_r's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I enjoyed this exploration of the importance of rituals to mark time and major life transitions for humans. The memoir elements, recounting the author's upbringing by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan with scientific curiosity and without religious superstition, were especially engaging. As a Gen X child of scientists, I grew up on Carl Sagan's Cosmos!
But as the author moves away from her childhood with her famous parents and more into her own adult life, it grew less interesting and more like breezy women's lifestyle magazine pieces (and indeed several of the chapters were originally written for periodicals). I was looking for more insight on forging non-religious rituals and traditions for myself and my family, and "relatable" stories about relationships and dinner parties with girlfriends weren't what I was looking for.
But as the author moves away from her childhood with her famous parents and more into her own adult life, it grew less interesting and more like breezy women's lifestyle magazine pieces (and indeed several of the chapters were originally written for periodicals). I was looking for more insight on forging non-religious rituals and traditions for myself and my family, and "relatable" stories about relationships and dinner parties with girlfriends weren't what I was looking for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
casmith512's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy and Antisemitism
chambecc's review
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Man, this book...
Sasha Sagan - yes, daughter of THAT Sagan - gives us a book that is simultaneously silly and light-hearted at some points, and then devastatingly sad and existential at others. She reflects on ritual, meaning, and life itself. Why do humans do the things we do? Why do we have rituals? Why do so many cultures and religions separated across a vast chasm of time share so many things in common? She explores these questions and more, with anecdotes from her own life and plenty of research into other religions and cultures throughout human history. From the changing of the seasons, to marriage and sex, to monthly rituals, to the book's closing chapter on death... she covers a lot of ground.
Sasha is herself secular, so she does not adhere to an organized religion - it seems fair to say that she is "spiritual," but in a secular way. Her spiritualism is rooted in an awe of the vast wonders of our universe, not worship of a particular deity. Yet she argues that ultimately, whether you're religious or not, science need not spoil our sense of wonder at the world and universe we inhabit - in fact, it can only enhance and enrich it.
There is one event that looms over the book - one event that the narrative circles back to again and again - and that is the death of her father, the beloved astronomer Carl Sagan. She was barely a teenager when this happened, and it became - as she herself acknowledges - the defining experience of her life. As someone who has loved Carl Sagan since I was myself a young teenager, the passages about his passing are simultaneously the most devastating and the most moving of the book.
Read this book, it will make you more appreciative of the beautiful texture of life, but be prepared for a serious feels trip.
Sasha Sagan - yes, daughter of THAT Sagan - gives us a book that is simultaneously silly and light-hearted at some points, and then devastatingly sad and existential at others. She reflects on ritual, meaning, and life itself. Why do humans do the things we do? Why do we have rituals? Why do so many cultures and religions separated across a vast chasm of time share so many things in common? She explores these questions and more, with anecdotes from her own life and plenty of research into other religions and cultures throughout human history. From the changing of the seasons, to marriage and sex, to monthly rituals, to the book's closing chapter on death... she covers a lot of ground.
Sasha is herself secular, so she does not adhere to an organized religion - it seems fair to say that she is "spiritual," but in a secular way. Her spiritualism is rooted in an awe of the vast wonders of our universe, not worship of a particular deity. Yet she argues that ultimately, whether you're religious or not, science need not spoil our sense of wonder at the world and universe we inhabit - in fact, it can only enhance and enrich it.
There is one event that looms over the book - one event that the narrative circles back to again and again - and that is the death of her father, the beloved astronomer Carl Sagan. She was barely a teenager when this happened, and it became - as she herself acknowledges - the defining experience of her life. As someone who has loved Carl Sagan since I was myself a young teenager, the passages about his passing are simultaneously the most devastating and the most moving of the book.
Read this book, it will make you more appreciative of the beautiful texture of life, but be prepared for a serious feels trip.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
adrizeuza's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This book was super moving to me, since I also lost a parent in my tenage years and am now considering motherhood as well as what I want my spirituality to look and feel like, authentically. A perfect mix of autobiography and wider considerations on the importance and variety of ritual for humans, in a secular atheist way that never diminishes other faiths and religions. If you are looking for a catalogue of rituals, this will probably disappoint you, but if you want a reflective/instrospective read, I highly reccomend this book.
It would have been a 5☆ read if it weren't for a chapter about food rituals which I found a bit superficial and slightly fatphobic, contrasting with the quality of the rest of the book.
It would have been a 5☆ read if it weren't for a chapter about food rituals which I found a bit superficial and slightly fatphobic, contrasting with the quality of the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
bluejayreads's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
After getting so much out of Casper ter Kuile’s The Power of Ritual, I had really high hopes for this one. And I think those high hopes are ultimately what ended up being the problem.
I had expected this to be similar to The Power of Ritual – why humans like and/or need rituals, what makes them meaningful, and what kinds of rituals we do. I was also hoping for some more how-to, some sort of instruction manual for creating my own meaningful rituals in a secular life. But that’s not really what I got. This is mostly memoir, combining Sasha’s memories of her father and her childhood, the secular rituals she experienced growing up, her experience with Jewish rituals as a secular Jew, and her hopes for ritual-making with her baby daughter.
It’s divided into chapters focusing on the different kinds of rituals that humans have done across the centuries. The main themes are seasons of nature (winter, spring, summer, fall) and seasons of the human life (birth, puberty, marriage, death). Sasha touches briefly on traditions across the world around these seasons, and illustrates each one with her life and the rituals she experienced – either from the wider American culture, her Jewish heritage, or ones she or her parents created – around those seasons.
This feels in many ways like an overview. I learned a lot more about Jewish life-phase rituals from Here All Along and more about seasons of nature rituals from my own research during my pagan phase. I did find the insights about how many disparate rituals can be grouped under the categories of “seasons of nature” or “important times in the human life cycle” interesting, and I appreciated the connections Sasha drew between so many different religious and cultural traditions. But the heart of this book is memoir – Sasha’s life as Carl Sagan’s daughter, her childhood, and her hopes for her daughter in the future. I think I would have been more interested in the memoir aspect if I knew anything about Carl Sagan and had that connection to draw on.
This is not a bad book. In fact, it was quite interesting in a lot of ways. I had just hoped for more information about how to set up rituals and make them meaningful in a secular life, and did not expect it to be so much memoir.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Medical content
kathleennicholson09's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Great perspective shift. Cadence was a little predictable… but that also sort of matches the theme of the book so it was fitting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
shays's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
"Questioning something, exploring it, examining it, thinking of ways it might change for the better is a way of loving something."
Following the birth of her first child, Sasha Sagan--daughter of esteemed science educators Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan--meditates on the role of ritual and tradition in secular life. In a series of moving and insightful essays, she examines how different cultures and religions mark special events and passage of time, and how we can respectfully adapt these traditions for modern life.
Following the birth of her first child, Sasha Sagan--daughter of esteemed science educators Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan--meditates on the role of ritual and tradition in secular life. In a series of moving and insightful essays, she examines how different cultures and religions mark special events and passage of time, and how we can respectfully adapt these traditions for modern life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
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