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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
informative
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Bit of a tedious read, since I'm not used to reading many essays. But still, a good read, full of facts and why the feminist movement is important.
"Feminism, as writer Mary Sheer remarked in 1986, "is the radical notion that women are people""
"Feminism, as writer Mary Sheer remarked in 1986, "is the radical notion that women are people""
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
It's a bit difficult to read this a decade after it was published with all the wisdom of hindsight. I will also note that several of these essays have a more white feminism flavor than an intersectional one. But overall it was an edifiying read and Solnit had important things to say. My favorite essay by a country mile was "Woolf's Darkness", originally published in 2009.
informative
slow-paced
Dense, thoughtful essays on tough topics.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
This collection is about 10 years old now and while many of the feminist ideas are eternal, it feels a little basic in the year 2024. Still, I tried to read each essay with that in mind and tried not to hold it against the work. Also, even if the ideas are basic, it’s crucial to be reminded 1) how far we have come 2) that we are not crazy.
‘Men Explain Thing to Me’ - 5/5
‘The Longest War’ - 4.5/5
‘Worlds Collide in a Luxury Suite’ - 4/5
‘In Praise of the Threat: What Marriage Equality Really Means’ - 4/5
‘Grandmother Spider’ - 4.75/5
‘Woolf’s Darkness: Embracing the Inexplicable’ - 5/5
‘Casandra Among the Creeps’ - 5/5
‘#YesAllWomen: Feminists Rewrite the Story’ - 4/5
‘Pandora’s Box and the Volunteer Police Force’ - 3.5/5
‘Men Explain Thing to Me’ - 5/5
‘The Longest War’ - 4.5/5
‘Worlds Collide in a Luxury Suite’ - 4/5
‘In Praise of the Threat: What Marriage Equality Really Means’ - 4/5
‘Grandmother Spider’ - 4.75/5
‘Woolf’s Darkness: Embracing the Inexplicable’ - 5/5
‘Casandra Among the Creeps’ - 5/5
‘#YesAllWomen: Feminists Rewrite the Story’ - 4/5
‘Pandora’s Box and the Volunteer Police Force’ - 3.5/5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault
Author used the sentence "Welcome to Manistan," unironically. What more needs to be said? The book is an absolute joke. The essay about Woolf was the only interesting part.
Disappointed with the feminist essays in this one, they were quite lukewarm — not what I was expecting from Solnit. Even the titular essay, while probably groundbreaking at the time, seemed to backpedal into “not all men” territory.
3 stars purely for the essay on Virginia Woolf and hope.
“To me, the grounds for hope are simply that we don't know what will happen next, and that the unlikely and the unimaginable transpire quite regularly.”
“Despair is a form of certainty, certainty that the future will be a lot like the present or will decline from it; despair is a confident memory of the future…Optimism is similarly confident about what will happen. Both are grounds for not acting. Hope can be the knowledge that we don't have that memory and that reality doesn't necessarily match our plans.”
3 stars purely for the essay on Virginia Woolf and hope.
“To me, the grounds for hope are simply that we don't know what will happen next, and that the unlikely and the unimaginable transpire quite regularly.”
“Despair is a form of certainty, certainty that the future will be a lot like the present or will decline from it; despair is a confident memory of the future…Optimism is similarly confident about what will happen. Both are grounds for not acting. Hope can be the knowledge that we don't have that memory and that reality doesn't necessarily match our plans.”