Reviews - Everyday Utopia | The StoryGraph

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111 reviews for:

First half was interesting, second half was a trudge. Mostly the authors ideas about why the nuclear family is defunct, not really any ideas about utopian living (apart from the "expanding" the concept of family)

brandonpomeroy's review against another edition

5.0

This is a welcome modern addition to the utopian, anarcho-socialist literature. It’s optimistic and hopeful and touches on topics that would have been very difficult 50 years ago. Another author might have focused on Dorothy Day or Ebenezer Howard or Paul Goodman or any other number of forward and brave thinkers and made the same arguments. The world will never have too many books and authors like this.

jregensburger's review against another edition

5.0

I picked this up expecting a general overview of Utopian communities throughout recorded history. Instead I got a righteous takedown of both capitalism and the patriarchy, and a better understanding of how the traditional nuclear family is a tool of both. Throw in a solid helping of militant optimism and you've got five stars, no notes.

pzorging's review against another edition

3.0

It was alright but I think it focused too much on Western examples of utopian thinking. Maybe the author didn't feel confident writing about things outside her cultural milieu, I don't know. She also doesn't go into competing visions of utopia - for example, I'm sure many far right reactionaries would probably structure their utopia as a militarized ethnostate that actively suppresses minorities. Speaking of which, I didn't care for her use of kibbutz life as one of her examples of a socialist system that cares for its members. That may be true but it's built on the death and displacement of many Palestinians (of which she only obliquely refers to, and only once). I suppose this could be seen as a metaphor for utopias that can only exist by forcefully excluding others.

I'm not sure I would recommend it but if the subject piques your interest, there's no harm in getting it from a library and it's only about 260 pages long.

carlareads2025's review against another edition

4.25

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

pedroabgmarques's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

Too specifically american point of view. For europeans it reads like a sales pitch for stuff we see as a given, like socialized healthcare and childcare.