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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this - Ratajkowski's a great writer who paints her own (often harrowing) experiences vividly and with enormous courage. Still, I wondered what it would take to move the central question (occasionally at least) from 'is this use of my body empowering for me personally' to 'what are the effects of "self-objectification = empowerment" rhetoric for women as a class.'
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2,5
I adored the beautiful writing however what a sad and gut-wrenching view of Hollywood and the beauty world.
This woman publicly talks about how she starved herself and how she just followed what was desired back then. However, she actively continues on those standards and stereotypes.
This memoir is all over the place, it feels like the author is trapped, lost, and contradictory in most ideas.
I adored the beautiful writing however what a sad and gut-wrenching view of Hollywood and the beauty world.
This woman publicly talks about how she starved herself and how she just followed what was desired back then. However, she actively continues on those standards and stereotypes.
This memoir is all over the place, it feels like the author is trapped, lost, and contradictory in most ideas.
reflective
medium-paced
Not what I was expecting at all. So incredibly raw and so beautifully written!!
A solid 3/5 - favorite part was really sensing how cathartic it is/was for her to really reclaim her narrative and share her perspective.
I’m glad I read it and I do think Emily’s writing is pretty self-aware, but the book overall was just OK. Really tough for me to get into in the first half, but towards the end I feel like she did a decent job of putting the pieces together.
I’m glad I read it and I do think Emily’s writing is pretty self-aware, but the book overall was just OK. Really tough for me to get into in the first half, but towards the end I feel like she did a decent job of putting the pieces together.
“I want to calculate my beauty to protect myself, to understand exactly how much power and lovability I have.”
After getting past the large type— the biggest I’ve seen in a while— I appreciated these essays. Ratajkowski contemplates the power and vulnerability of women’s bodies. From an early age she understood how people value beauty. Her beautiful mother often reminds her of how beautiful she is and how society values beauty. An experienced model since she was a teenager, she reckons with her own body and recognizes how society treats (and mistreats) women’s bodies.
"Beauty was a way for me to feel special. When I was special, I felt my parents' love for me the most."
"My mother seems to hold the way my beauty is affirmed by the world like a mirror, reflecting back to her a measure of her own worth."
"I find other ways of constructing a mirror not unlike my mother's. I study red-carpet and paparazzi images of myself online and in the camera roll on my phone, tapping the screen to zoom in on my face as I try to discern whether I am actually beautiful."
"I've never been good about taking care of myself. Cleaning my body is not a habit I take pleasure in but a concession to social expectations; I know that being dirty is embarrassing and not feminine."
After getting past the large type— the biggest I’ve seen in a while— I appreciated these essays. Ratajkowski contemplates the power and vulnerability of women’s bodies. From an early age she understood how people value beauty. Her beautiful mother often reminds her of how beautiful she is and how society values beauty. An experienced model since she was a teenager, she reckons with her own body and recognizes how society treats (and mistreats) women’s bodies.
"Beauty was a way for me to feel special. When I was special, I felt my parents' love for me the most."
"My mother seems to hold the way my beauty is affirmed by the world like a mirror, reflecting back to her a measure of her own worth."
"I find other ways of constructing a mirror not unlike my mother's. I study red-carpet and paparazzi images of myself online and in the camera roll on my phone, tapping the screen to zoom in on my face as I try to discern whether I am actually beautiful."
"I've never been good about taking care of myself. Cleaning my body is not a habit I take pleasure in but a concession to social expectations; I know that being dirty is embarrassing and not feminine."
La justesse de cet essai est assez incroyable. Emrata est très transparente sur l’évolution de son rapport à son corps et sur ses opinions politiques personnelles au fil du temps. Aussi, le livre audio lu par Emrata ajoute une couche de réalisme et de proximité avec l’auteure.
This was so cringe inducing, beginning with how she is objectified as a pretty young girl, her interactions with her mother, and learning of all the disgusting things professional models deal with in their work. Though I don’t know if there were any big takeaways, it was a fascinating bit of food for thought on how society is built to objectify women.
I had no expectations of this book. I knew who Emily Ratajkowski was (who doesn't though?), but I had only heard about it once others started sharing positive reviews. With those reviews being my only knowledge of the book itself, I entered into a two month long waitlist for a copy from the library.
I expected the book to focus on Emrata's body, clearly, although the thoughts, feelings, and stories expressed throughout were more than I had ever anticipated. I was unaware just how comforting it would be to hear another woman, an absolutely flawless model at that, explain their complicated feelings towards the consumption of their own body. Emily expresses how she felt that her perceived societal value and it's appreciation for her appearance is what should dictate her thoughts, feelings, and actions with the world that surrounds it. Emily takes us through her thoughts over multiple years of her life from adolescence up until the birth of her child in 2020.
There was far more here for me to relate to than I ever could have expected from a world renowned supermodel, from the awareness of the prevalence of the male gaze to struggling to determine what acts and behaviours were feminist or anti-feminist. Should one enjoy their body and having it exposed or it that merely pandering to the lowest common denominator? Could it be both? Or neither?
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It's endlessly amusing to peruse other reviews of this book, all claiming that Emrata cannot be a 'real writer' as she's 'just a pretty face'. Or blaming her for agreeing to straightforward business transactions that led to her being objectified, fondled, groped, or experiencing a vindictive male attempting to defame her.
It's almost like they didn't read a single page of the book.
I expected the book to focus on Emrata's body, clearly, although the thoughts, feelings, and stories expressed throughout were more than I had ever anticipated. I was unaware just how comforting it would be to hear another woman, an absolutely flawless model at that, explain their complicated feelings towards the consumption of their own body. Emily expresses how she felt that her perceived societal value and it's appreciation for her appearance is what should dictate her thoughts, feelings, and actions with the world that surrounds it. Emily takes us through her thoughts over multiple years of her life from adolescence up until the birth of her child in 2020.
There was far more here for me to relate to than I ever could have expected from a world renowned supermodel, from the awareness of the prevalence of the male gaze to struggling to determine what acts and behaviours were feminist or anti-feminist. Should one enjoy their body and having it exposed or it that merely pandering to the lowest common denominator? Could it be both? Or neither?
------
It's endlessly amusing to peruse other reviews of this book, all claiming that Emrata cannot be a 'real writer' as she's 'just a pretty face'. Or blaming her for agreeing to straightforward business transactions that led to her being objectified, fondled, groped, or experiencing a vindictive male attempting to defame her.
It's almost like they didn't read a single page of the book.