199 reviews for:

All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess

Becca Rothfeld

3.72 AVERAGE

ayo_oops's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 17%

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feels wildly mean-spirited and lacking empathy

other_caretaker's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

agentcopykat's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 31%

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Too wordy, I needed something lighter and easier to read.

vickywoodburn's review against another edition

3.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

moviekiss5's review against another edition

4.75

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

reviewsbylola's review against another edition

3.0

slow-paced

jeremiah_scanlan's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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Some nice provocations and a relentless and productively unsettling taxonomy of desire, but she's best at the takedown, both for good and for worse. The literary criticism essays shine brightest, especially the Sally Rooney takedown. But Rothfeld isn't the most generous reader, and her sharp pen can turn from funny to tedious pretty rapidly. And as evocative as her examination of desire is, it really fails to ground itself in the most important question of all: Why we desire. Would've better been titled "Essays in search of transformation." But she's not sure what transformation is for. It's a hard question, I know. But when every chain of inference ends at a plain assertion of desire, I'm left...uhh...wanting.

karlams's review against another edition

2.0

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If I have two minutes left to live I will read this book because it will feel like a century has passed by the time you get to the second chapter.

scenic92's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective slow-paced

alexisrt's review against another edition

4.5

challenging funny informative medium-paced