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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Well written essays that say things I tend to agree with, so good!
Long overdue, but my first collection of Solnit's essays. The title essay, The Mother of All Questions, hit me in the chest. The essay is now littered with book darts, and I will no doubt revisit it a lot.
Reading this collection in 2020 did mean that some of the essays had aged a tad, but it was interesting to read of the last decade's strides in feminism leading up to the MeToo movement.
The Feminism: The Men Arrive essay was unfortunately cringeworthy to read from Solnit's future. Listing Louis CK and Aziz Ansari as among male feminist comedians obviously aged terribly, but just goes to show how good a job they were doing passing as feminist men with strong values. And of course a real reminder that espousing liberal views in no way means someone isn't capable of abuse and/or shitty behaviour.
Overall a great collection and will be seeking out more of Solnit's work soon.
Reading this collection in 2020 did mean that some of the essays had aged a tad, but it was interesting to read of the last decade's strides in feminism leading up to the MeToo movement.
The Feminism: The Men Arrive essay was unfortunately cringeworthy to read from Solnit's future. Listing Louis CK and Aziz Ansari as among male feminist comedians obviously aged terribly, but just goes to show how good a job they were doing passing as feminist men with strong values. And of course a real reminder that espousing liberal views in no way means someone isn't capable of abuse and/or shitty behaviour.
Overall a great collection and will be seeking out more of Solnit's work soon.
It was a solid 3,5* for me. Some essays were really thought provoking. And I really enjoyed her analysis of the movie Giant with Elizabeth Taylor.
Insightful and accessible, these essays are required reading to better understand so much of what's going down in the world today. This is one of those books that makes you realize that even if you think your eyes are open, they're not open enough.
Rebecca Solnit has a lot of good points and articulates them very eloquently, but I found that this book got somewhat redundant after a while, and as someone who has been interested in feminism for a while, a lot of what she said wasn't particularly new to me. However, I would definitely recommend this to someone who is just starting to learn about cultural misogyny, or for anyone who needs a reminder of how women are being silenced. It was interesting to read a collection of essays about sexual assault/violence that was published right before the Me Too movement- I wonder how her commentary would have been different had this been written afterwards.
I prefer her selection of essays in [b:Men Explain Things to Me|18528190|Men Explain Things to Me|Rebecca Solnit|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1393447237s/18528190.jpg|26233826]. From this collection I did not like as many essays. In some of them I feel that she goes to the other extreme of feminism and even if she criticize the extremes I feel she felt on them. I do not consider myself a feminist but I like to read feminist books and each year I increase more and more my books by female writers, but we must understand that the changes take time and that the world will have periods of felt back and periods of progress. As important and contemporary that are the topics she mention I feel that she also miss the point of searching a balance between the our current position and what it was.
This was really good! It explores all kinds of interesting topics and always offers smart perspectives and a lot of thought for food. I liked it even more because it's gloriously intersectional and I'm all for intersectional feminism.
My fave essay in this great collection was the one about the mansplaining of Lolita. Infuriating, not surprising at all, but in the end very satisfying.
The Mother of All Questions is extremely recent and yet some parts already feel a little passé because of everything that happened this year (for example, Louis C.K. is identified several times as a "feminist comedian") and I really hope there will be a follow-up because I'd love to read Rebecca Solnit's thoughts on the events of 2017.
But first, I need to read Men Explain Things to Me.
My fave essay in this great collection was the one about the mansplaining of Lolita. Infuriating, not surprising at all, but in the end very satisfying.
The Mother of All Questions is extremely recent and yet some parts already feel a little passé because of everything that happened this year (for example, Louis C.K. is identified several times as a "feminist comedian") and I really hope there will be a follow-up because I'd love to read Rebecca Solnit's thoughts on the events of 2017.
But first, I need to read Men Explain Things to Me.
Read the first two essays, if you read anything. They are so important and I wish that I had been able to read them 15 years ago. This is the sort of book I might buy copies of to distribute.
Second reading: It is a good time to reread this as the #metoo movement hits its stride and the backlash gathers. Keep strong.
Solnit has written a powerful and clear modern feminist manifesto. She takes on the interviewer whose author interview focuses on her choice not to have children. Would you follow that line of questions with a male author? She explains silence-who is silenced and how and what the repercussions are. Her essay on rape culture is the clearest explanation that I have read or heard. I thoroughly enjoyed her take on writers projecting back to prehistory what women's roles are based on middle class American family structure in the 50's and 60's. And how they totally discount the work that "someone" must have done to feed, clothe and shelter the group.
I read this as a library book and will now go out and buy a copy because there are some many sentences and paragraphs that I want to have to read again.
Solnit has written a powerful and clear modern feminist manifesto. She takes on the interviewer whose author interview focuses on her choice not to have children. Would you follow that line of questions with a male author? She explains silence-who is silenced and how and what the repercussions are. Her essay on rape culture is the clearest explanation that I have read or heard. I thoroughly enjoyed her take on writers projecting back to prehistory what women's roles are based on middle class American family structure in the 50's and 60's. And how they totally discount the work that "someone" must have done to feed, clothe and shelter the group.
I read this as a library book and will now go out and buy a copy because there are some many sentences and paragraphs that I want to have to read again.
Posing some interesting questions, this collection of essays has become a little outdated (Louis C K as a feminist ally? Really?)