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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
The person who rated this a 1.0 seems to have missed not only the point, but also the rather large and extensive Notes section that includes detailed citations for every unattributed quote used in the text
Perhaps if I read this book in a context outside of required reading for a college class, I may have enjoyed this book. But I doubt it. I am a proud and vocal feminist, but this book is painful. I am one of the students for whom this was a “tough read.” Even after being prepared that I was to read this text as “images and feelings,” I could not enjoy any aspect of the book - its style, its ideas, its themes. Really, just nothing. It is a collection of creative writing essays that portray women as helpless victims. It was a 200+ page long whimper and ended with a foot stomp. Only the quotes that lead into each section are annotated, so it is impossible to tell from which sources the author derives her statements. She uses quotations but then doesn’t cite where the quotations come from. For example on page 24, she writes “‘Nature is the art of God,’ it is declared.” She uses quotation marks but then doesn’t write where the quote came from. Where is it declared? In whose speech was it declared? In which text was it written? Is it in the bible? Am I supposed to just recognize the quote as common knowledge as if it is “We hold these truths to be self-evident”? Additionally, the repetitive nature of the writing with the “it is said,” “it is declared,” “it is explained,” blanket statements and the stream of consciousness style are unpleasant to read. Opening to a random page (38), the repetitive style of “it is said” or similar phrase was used thirteen times ON ONE PAGE. It is difficult for me to derive any useful ideas from the text because I cannot get past the tedious writing style. I cannot wait to leave this book in a random cafe for someone else to pick up and hopefully they can give this book the kind of love and admiration that I just cannot muster for it.
I read this months ago and forgot to review it, but what I remember: the timeline of witch trials alongside historical milestones is a mighty profound thing.