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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
This is a good reflection of the pandemic to read now, later into the pandemic when situations are much different than they were at the beginning. It is still relevant now as it talks about big ideas and slices of life. I do wish I had read this physically instead of audio though as I did find the essays challenging.
emotional
informative
fast-paced
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Police brutality, Murder
informative
fast-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This is Zadie Smith searching the library of her mind to make sense of what she is. Every mind contains such a library whose shelves are filled not with memories and dreams but with personalities. Most of us like to think that we live with a single personality that is shaped by the circumstances we live in. We are suddenly snatched from these circumstances by this global event that looms large over most of us. We are coming undone at the seams, to different extents. Working at a place which used to be a haven away from work; being deprived of positive relations we made because those offered at home just aren't nurturing enough. Trapped at a single place, we can't help but wonder: Who am I? Am I the person I'm at work or am I the person I'm with my kids? Stripped of all externalities, can I define myself?
People, we suddenly find, don't like their lives with monolithic personalities; Intimations is an affirmation of that simple truth that we forget when dealing with other people.
By revealing to us the magic(I can't think of a better word to describe these essays) behind the thoughts and actions of people in her life and of herself, Zadie Smith conveys to us that truth: That people live at a deeper level that we assume them to be. The only differing circumstances between them and the author is that introspection is part of her job. While those that she accesses are busy with their own hustle and bustle in a world that is all but made cruel by the pandemic.
The thing I appreciate most about these small, wonderous essays is that they weren't written with ease. Maybe they were, but they don't across that way. Often times, social commentators approach problems with a cold logic that seems disconnected with normal people. Intimations, credit to the fiction writer in her, is filled with sentences that are both emotional and erudite. She meanders to other texts, ancient or recent; to other people; to events of past and present; to issues: identities of gender, colour, class, privilege. But even through all that, we still get essays which the reader, as a normal person, can connect too and feel less lonely. Like the pandemic, Intimations can be another shared experience for us. Only instead of paranoia and politicisation, it offers us solace.
People, we suddenly find, don't like their lives with monolithic personalities; Intimations is an affirmation of that simple truth that we forget when dealing with other people.
By revealing to us the magic(I can't think of a better word to describe these essays) behind the thoughts and actions of people in her life and of herself, Zadie Smith conveys to us that truth: That people live at a deeper level that we assume them to be. The only differing circumstances between them and the author is that introspection is part of her job. While those that she accesses are busy with their own hustle and bustle in a world that is all but made cruel by the pandemic.
The thing I appreciate most about these small, wonderous essays is that they weren't written with ease. Maybe they were, but they don't across that way. Often times, social commentators approach problems with a cold logic that seems disconnected with normal people. Intimations, credit to the fiction writer in her, is filled with sentences that are both emotional and erudite. She meanders to other texts, ancient or recent; to other people; to events of past and present; to issues: identities of gender, colour, class, privilege. But even through all that, we still get essays which the reader, as a normal person, can connect too and feel less lonely. Like the pandemic, Intimations can be another shared experience for us. Only instead of paranoia and politicisation, it offers us solace.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced