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seventhswan's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.25
This was my first time reading Naomi Klein, though her work came recommended so my expectations were high. Doppelganger lived up to these expectations - I found it to be an engaging, insightful look at a range of related political and social issues, using ideas about doubling and replication as a springboard. Notably, this is the first text of any length I've read where I came away feeling like I'd actually improved my understanding of the politics surrounding Israel and Palestine.
I found the section on autism a little random - slightly strange in tone and out of step with the rest of the book, even though the changeling-as-doppelganger theory made for an obvious link to the title. Klein's denial that autism is a disability ("just a different way of being human" - well-meaning, but no!) meant she didn't engage with disability politics in that section too closely, instead critiquing the Autism Mom Community largely on their promotion of medical misinformation. None of this content was incorrect, of course, but something just felt... off.
Overall, though, this was a few pages of a largely excellent book, and I'll look to read more by Klein in future.
I found the section on autism a little random - slightly strange in tone and out of step with the rest of the book, even though the changeling-as-doppelganger theory made for an obvious link to the title. Klein's denial that autism is a disability ("just a different way of being human" - well-meaning, but no!) meant she didn't engage with disability politics in that section too closely, instead critiquing the Autism Mom Community largely on their promotion of medical misinformation. None of this content was incorrect, of course, but something just felt... off.
Overall, though, this was a few pages of a largely excellent book, and I'll look to read more by Klein in future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, and Violence
aileen_macalister's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
The book's main thread follows Naomi Klein and another writer Naomi Wolf, who's career path was so similar to Klein's for such a long period that the two are often confused. However, Wolf's life takes a dramatic shift to the right and Klein finds herself constantly "called out" for Wolf's views.
This leads Klein to look into the far right and conspiracy theories while also analysing references to doppelgangers throughout literature and history.
It is a fascinating window into the "mirror world" as Klein refers to it. It took me a couple of chapters to get into the book as she has to spend a good amount of time setting the scene and describing the similarities of herself and Wolf before she can get to the good stuff but once she gets into it the story takes you on an journey through this mirror world from Anti-vaxers to Palestine and everything in-between.
For me, listening to it as an audiobook made it so much easier to take in.
Overall it's an exploration into what it means to be a human in today's world and what "the self" really means.
This leads Klein to look into the far right and conspiracy theories while also analysing references to doppelgangers throughout literature and history.
It is a fascinating window into the "mirror world" as Klein refers to it. It took me a couple of chapters to get into the book as she has to spend a good amount of time setting the scene and describing the similarities of herself and Wolf before she can get to the good stuff but once she gets into it the story takes you on an journey through this mirror world from Anti-vaxers to Palestine and everything in-between.
For me, listening to it as an audiobook made it so much easier to take in.
Overall it's an exploration into what it means to be a human in today's world and what "the self" really means.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
siebensommer's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.25
at times it feels like it's losing itself in so many different themes (all very important and well-researched) and then you get to the end and all comes together.. oof
in fact it makes a certain kind of sick sense that our era of peak personal branding has coincided so precisely with an unprecedented crisis point for our shared home. the vast complex planetary crisis requires coordinated collective effort on an international scale. that may be theoretically possible, but it sure is daunting. far easier to master ourselves - the brand called you.
we did [change the discourse] but we appear to have done it at the precise moment when words and ideas underwent a radical currency devaluation
what is the alternative that is being offered on this side of the glass? do we have a plan for a world without sacrificial people? and does that plan feel credible, rooted in action?
we are not, and never were, selfmade. we are made and unmade by one another
hitler [...] was not the civilised democratic west's evil other, but its shadow, its doppelganger.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
milkfran's review
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This was a book I couldn’t read without a pen in my hand to frantically underline every other word. I will be recommending this to everyone else I know who is also feeling similarly adrift in the bleak Mirror World of our times.
A bit of context: I was (and am, recent political forays aside) a huge fan of Radiohead and picked up a second-hand copy of No Logo as a teenager to try and seem cool after reading an interview with Thom Yorke around the time they were recording Kid A saying he was reading it on their tour bus. It left me depressed for weeks but also quietly radicalised me to the extent that in the guff of my UCAS personal statement I wrote about how much Naomi Klein and George Orwell between them had made me pick a politics & history degree. I’m not sure how useful 5 years and £81k of debt to do the aforementioned degree was but reading Naomi Klein is never a waste.
I was slightly apprehensive when I initially picked Doppelgänger up because I’ll admit to not being that interested in Naomi Wolf’s wild ramblings but although Good!Naomi does discuss Bad!Naomi in detail
(“if the Naomi be Klein
you’re doing just fine
If the Naomi be Wolf
Oh, buddy. Ooooof.”
@MarkPopham, via Twitter)
Wolf’s descent through the looking glass is more of a narrative scaffold to hang Klein’s depressingly prescient thoughts on our current predicament/ the culture wars/ the disinformation pandemic/ late stage capitalism’s final dying wheeze/- whatever you want to call it- on.
On p.322, she sums it up in her own words, describing the book as being about “The self as a perfect brand, the self as digital avatar, the self as data mine, the self as idealized body, the self as racist and anti-Semitic projection, the child as mirror of the self, the self as eternal victim.”
I winced a little when the first mention of the pandemic came up (there seems to have been a collective forgetting about it all for many of us?) but reading her analysis of all the madness was a cathartic debrief about it all that I didn’t know I needed.
As well as this, the bits criticising Israel from a Jewish perspective were even more powerful in light of the fact they were written before the repercussions for the October 7th attacks and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians.
The only weak spot of the book for me was Chapter 10, ‘the anti-vax prequel’. Obviously the online discourse about autism and Autism Moms is fertile ground to harvest for a book about disinformation, and reading Naomi’s honest unfiltered thoughts on her son’s diagnosis felt raw and honest, some of it made me a little uncomfortable. It also felt the least fleshed out of all the chapters, perhaps because it was the most personal of them all and understandably difficult for the author to step back and gain some objectivity and distance.
However, in the extremely unlikely event that Naomi Klein is reading this though, can I kindly say that the call is coming from inside the house and your son’s autism did not come from nowhere… certainly not from the parent who is a high-flying academic and self described ‘seeker of justice’… who discussed the eating disorder she had as a teen… and the one who says “‘pattern recognition’ is often how I describe the work of my life” on p.226.
All of the glowing 5 star reviews on the blurb are accurate but whether the people in power or people we’ve lost to the mirror world will actually read it remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I’ll keep recommending it to anyone who’ll listen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Eating disorder
turidt's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Murder
sydapel's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
I really don't rate non-fiction, but we're making an exception for this one since it's one of the only books I've read that discusses our current political polarization without making me feel entirely defeated. Klein approaches alt right talking points with context, facts and a deep amount of empathy that both holds these pundits accountable while recognizing how they've gotten there. I also appreciate the reference made to other explorations of dopplegangers and double-think, it really brings the book together in such a satisfying way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This was such a fascinating read and not what I was expecting (I don't read premises, so idk what I was expecting actually....).
I am a tiny bookstagrammer who shares a username with other "bookish millennial"s whose "brands" are much different than mine; they focus on SJM, Fourth Wing, etc. while I ..... do not - no shade, we are just different! I found the premise of this so relatable and compelling. I'm no one, but Naomi Klein's career and brand is deeply impacted by having this author doppelganger. Absolutely wild.
I also heavily related to this because I too, have lost loved ones to the "mirrorworld," who dove deep into the covid, 5G, and other endless political conspiracies that have spread like wildfire since the pandemic shutdown in 2020. It's painful, exhausting, and leaves you in a bit of despair wondering why they can't be pulled back from the dudebro podcasts or vile Trump camp. I appreciated that Klein weaved in so much context about how these ran rampant and gained such strong traction, because it ironically made me feel less alone in my own grief of the people I love changing right in front of me.
The way we think about our online selves, and how performative activism has become a thing was something that I think anyone on Instagram or who is perpetually online can feel connected to. It is something I ruminate about often, as I believe to be seen is to be loved. However, to be perceived incorrectly (sometimes poeple really do intentionally misunderstand you) is viscerally painful and sometimes infuriating. And in other times, you don't want to be perceived at all. This cultural zeitgeist is such a mindfuck sometimes.
I don't particularly think there was anything absolutely novel in this, and though it could feel dense at times, I am really glad I read it and felt really comforted that it's something we are all navigating (to different extents) in this "brave new world" lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Rape, Violence, and War
uranaishi's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation
dmlb's review
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Every chapter something to drop your jaw at, could be a historical reference of our times one day
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Antisemitism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
rheagoveas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Racism and Sexism