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timna_wyckoff's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. Some of these essays were interesting, many I just skimmed. And, the topics seemed weirdly random...not all on point with the title.
laila4343's review against another edition
3.0
I have apparently been living under a rock because I wasn't aware that many people hate the author. I had barely heard of her - I just liked the title, because I think of my life these days as pretty messy. I liked this but skimmed quite a few of the essays. She's an excellent writer, and I agree with most of her sentiments about helicopter parents and single mothers. If you like to read essays about the way we live now then give this a whirl.
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
I am trying this year to figure out why I picked up a particular book as well as whether I learned anything from it. I have no idea where I heard about Roiphe's book of essay and I am really not sure why it stuck with me long enough for me to request it from my local library. Whatever the reasons, I am glad that I found and read these essays.
Let me first say that many of her essays were not aimed at me. Roiphe lives in NYC and the parenting issues she discusses were not in my life when I had small children, let alone now. She confirmed for me that some parents are just crazy, but that was a confirmation, not news. Also her essays on the Internet were interesting and enlightening, but Twitter and Gawker have little impact in my life.
What I found most interesting were the essays in the sections titled "Life and Times" and "Books". Roiphe made me think about some authors that haven't crossed my thoughts in awhile and I was grateful for what she had to say. Also it was good to hear what a younger feminist has to say about the world.
Roiphe made me think. She made me consider the world from another person's viewpoint and she did it by writing well. I am grateful.
I am not sure to whom I should recommend this book. I don't know many people interested in some of Roiphe's topics. If you like seeing the world from the perspective of a feminist New Yorker, try these essays.
Let me first say that many of her essays were not aimed at me. Roiphe lives in NYC and the parenting issues she discusses were not in my life when I had small children, let alone now. She confirmed for me that some parents are just crazy, but that was a confirmation, not news. Also her essays on the Internet were interesting and enlightening, but Twitter and Gawker have little impact in my life.
What I found most interesting were the essays in the sections titled "Life and Times" and "Books". Roiphe made me think about some authors that haven't crossed my thoughts in awhile and I was grateful for what she had to say. Also it was good to hear what a younger feminist has to say about the world.
Roiphe made me think. She made me consider the world from another person's viewpoint and she did it by writing well. I am grateful.
I am not sure to whom I should recommend this book. I don't know many people interested in some of Roiphe's topics. If you like seeing the world from the perspective of a feminist New Yorker, try these essays.
lavoiture's review against another edition
1.0
Read about this somewhere, thought it sounded interesting. It wasn't, which is a shame.
aprildawnbest's review against another edition
2.0
There were a couple essays I really enjoyed and the rest I skimmed through or skipped altogether.
moogen's review against another edition
2.0
I was hoping to read essays on praiseworthy messy lives... and I enjoyed the few that answered that brief - the rest not so much. I did find the author grating - even when I agreed with her opinions. There was something brattish and morally superior about her tone that didn't sit well with me. The themes and sidebars tended to repetitious as well.
samandtheirbooks's review
4.0
It was good! I want to reread it at another time. I don't fully have my thoughts yet but maybe that will come for the reread.
The section about the internet is so dated it's kinda unreadable
The section about the internet is so dated it's kinda unreadable
kbratten's review against another edition
2.0
Katie Roiphe is a talented writer with a way with words. She comes off as smart, savvy, and personable. Some essays are better than others. Some I cringed through. I just don't like her very much after reading them, so I stopped.
jaclynday's review against another edition
3.0
Roiphe is an extremely problematic fave, but this collection of her previous essays is worth a read, especially when she turns to her own life for material. (Her literary analysis can be fascinating, but the forced seriousness is…not.) Stay for the commentary on parenting and motherhood. I’m biased, I know, but I’d rather read Roiphe’s intense and sometimes cutting views on the modern state of those things than her thoughts on Joan Didion’s refusal to get too personal in her work. (I got my 600+ page fill of Didion recently, though. Didion fatigue.)