Reviews

The Promise of Happiness by Sara Ahmed

autumngk's review against another edition

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4.0

I was introduced to this book as a textbook for a Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies class over a year ago and it cracked me wide open, all the things I was neglecting to see about myself and the world around me. Although it is quite dated and very film reference heavy-which I will say is where I struggled the most with this text, the films I hadn't seen or been as familiar with- it's such a wonderful foundation for anyone to begin exploring or learning whatever it is they might be curious about: feminism, happiness, or themselves as an individual in our world.

shraddhatimalsina's review against another edition

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4.0

It basically is like a very comprehensive film and book review.

ophiliae's review against another edition

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4.0

The more I think about this book and the way it critiques happiness (happiness for who? happiness to what ends?) the more shook I am and the higher I want to rate it.

everything_was_beautiful's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

sayevet's review against another edition

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4.25

"To be bound to happiness is to be bound by what has already been established as good." 

axmed's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

jediswiftie96's review against another edition

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another book I’ve read for my thesis lol, was interesting

nabilah's review against another edition

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4.0

Menurut Sara Ahmed di dalam buku ini, konsep kebahagiaan yang ditetapkan oleh budaya arus perdana tak semestinya menjanjikan kebahagiaan kepada semua orang. Sara Ahmed menerangkan betapa bahayanya konsep kebahagiaan yang tidak diperiksa dan dianalisis terutamanya kepada wanita, LGBT dan golongan minoriti yang lain. Pessisme pada penulis ialah salah satu cara untuk menentang, mengenalpasti penindasan tetapi penulis tidak mengagungkan pessisme sebagai alternatif tetapi hanya sebagai salah satu wake-up call kepada golongan-golongan yang sering menganggap submissiveness, compliance sebagai kunci kebahagiaan di dunia ini.

adamantane's review

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challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.75

A powerful, thought-provoking mediation on the nature of happiness and how we define it. It is essential sociological and philosophical reading.

savaging's review

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4.0

One of my favorite jokes:

Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: That's not funny.

We've been trying to fight against the stereotypes of the feminist killjoy, dour queer, angry radical, melancholy migrant. It's frightening when someone says Maybe they're right sometimes. Maybe engaging consciously with injustice will make you unhappy. Instead of trying to claim that we're finding some deeper happiness, maybe we should be challenging the supremacy of the promise of happiness to begin with.

This book is written with an academic stance, and I found some of the philosophy dry and the close readings of movies and books too detailed. But I'm fascinated by the big ideas in it: how feminists, queers, migrants, and revolutionaries are 'affect aliens'; the coercive, reactive nature of the push for happiness; the exploration of 'queer pessimism' and 'being for being against'; and the notion that freedom to be unhappy also carries with it the freedom to be happy in inappropriate ways.