Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

9 reviews

katharina90's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

An interesting read that's particularly strong in its last few chapters where Naomi Klein illustrates the violent bigotry and genocidal tendencies inherent to Europe and its colonial projects.

The book is well written, covers a lot of ground and offers much food for thought. 

Trying to tie all of these topics back to the doppelganger motif at times feels like a stretch? I definitely lost the thread a few times but was captivated by Klein's meandering narrative nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Islamophobia, Ableism, Racism, Antisemitism, Genocide, Sexism, Police brutality, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, and Sexual violence

Minor: Dementia and War

rissryann's review

challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Wow.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, Gun violence, Ableism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Genocide, Racism, Police brutality, Homophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: Rape and Violence

cerysl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Grief, Islamophobia, Sexism, Ableism, Antisemitism, Bullying, Classism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

minniepauline's review

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

This is a brilliant book. Klein’s writing is accessible, well-researched and compassionate. It was a very tough read, emotionally, for me. But one I think I’m going to want to revisit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, War, Torture, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Death, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Hate crime, Colonisation, Child abuse, Antisemitism, and Murder

courtney_scott1025's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

I hate that I liked this book. This was chosen for my book club, and after about 40% of the way through, I was committed to letting my book club know I hated it. I kept going, and wow. I couldn't stop reading. I can't stop thinking about this book. I thought the whole Shadow World thing was stupid at first and just a little out there, but once she started talking about colonialism in context of the Shadow World... This should be required reading for white people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Ableism

Minor: Abortion and Violence

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I don’t even know where to start. So many WOW moments for me (I don’t consider the following spoilers, but in case you might, feel free to stop reading here):

1. I had no idea the battle of the Naomis even existed. I was shocked to read about how far down the rabbit hole Naomi Wolf had fallen into, especially because I loved her book The Beauty Myth.
2. I was also shocked to read that Christiane Northrup had sold out. I used to respect these two women so much!
3. I was surprised that Canada wasn’t as free from extreme rightist politics as I thought.
4. I was puzzled as to why Naomi Klein, Naomi Wolf, and Naomi Campbell would be confused. They are so very different women, and even if it’s an aggressive autocorrect, the first letters of their last names aren’t even anywhere close to each other on the keyboard!!

I laughed, even guffawed at parts. I blurt out “EW!” over and over. I applauded. I gasped. I scratched my head. This book had it all. And while I’m both sorry that Naomi Wolf’s mind and body has been kidnapped and replaced by an alien and that Naomi Klein has had to suffer for it, I’m glad it led to this book. And yeah, it was worth staying up all night to finish the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Confinement, Fatphobia, Violence, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Genocide, and Xenophobia

mmccombs's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Absolutely a must read! This is my first book from Klein and I immediately feel compelled to reach for her backlist. For a fairly short-ish book, this covers so much ground while also going pretty deeply into each topic, I felt it was quite comprehensive. My only complaint was that I sometimes struggled with the organization of the book, I never quite knew where it was going, though each time we got somewhere I enjoyed myself. This is a great book for understanding where we are right now and imagining where we could be, I want to throw this book at everyone I meet!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Misogyny, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Colonisation, Classism, and Antisemitism

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Genocide, Violence, Ableism, Colonisation, War, Transphobia, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Dementia

erint251's review

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed Klein changling her writing style up and delivering this book in a more personal, conversational tone.

also I'm pretty sure I've never read a non-fiction book that ends with a plot twist before?! Her mind omg

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder and Rape