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jwale's review against another edition
2.0
Since Greta's name is mentioned first and highlighted on the cover, I was disappointed to realize it was her mother who had written it. The book is centered around herself and her experience as a 'celebrity' with a superiority complex, despite claiming there are "more important things to do" than write a self-indulgent autobiography. While this book was disorganized and lacking a coherent structure, its redeeming qualities were the parts about Greta, her mental health journey, and the climate crisis – which I was expecting the book to be about. On the other hand, the book omitted valuable information about how the way forward through the climate crisis will impact the global south, more information about Greta's eating disorder or Beata's mental health experience, and less about how talented of a singer Melena Ernman is.
rhonataylor22's review against another edition
3.0
More of an autobiography than about climate change but interesting. An interesting insight into autism and adhd. Almost entirely written by/from the perspective of Malena. The nuggets about climate change were very important but overall it just felt a bit all over the place.
_andreabarcia's review against another edition
4.0
Me he llevado una sorpresa enorme porque pensaba que iba a ser un libro aburrido y que iba a pecar de esperanza para hacernos sentir mejor. No ha sido así. La narradora (en este caso la madre de Greta) ha sabido explicar de forma sincera y franca como ha sido todo el camino recorrido tanto en su vida personal, como en el de sus dos hijas y su marido. El diagnóstico de Greta y Beata, su propio diagnóstico, la crisis climática, el plantearte tu posición privilegiada.. todo con capítulos sencillos y claros. Muy inspirador.
insipidurbanism's review against another edition
emotional
4.0
Perspectives on mental health and climate justice
tonitrap's review against another edition
4.0
Our House is on Fire, the title of the memoir of the Thunberg family, refers to both the imminent threat of dissolution of a family house and the imminent threat of destruction of the larger house – the planet. Greta Thunberg’s mother, Malena Ernman, provides the primary voice of the family in telling the dual narratives. A famous opera singer in her homeland, Ernman finds the life she has created and adored with her husband and two daughters slowly and steadily unraveling as both of her girls begin exhibiting behaviors that will eventually lead to neuroatypical diagnoses for both of them. For younger Beata, the behaviors are big and sometimes violent, and for older Greta, the behaviors become a ticking time bomb as she stops eating or speaking to anyone outside of her family. This family narrative was unexpectedly affecting as Ernman describes the various methods they used to reach through the chaos to find a way to speak to their daughters. There is a lot of frustration and heartbreak there as both parents try to navigate a system that is not working for the kids (so much for Swedish utopia) and their own limits as parents. Ernman’s prose is not very sentimental which almost acts to magnify what she is describing – eg. The moment when Greta reveals a litany of bullying by peers she has experienced over a period of years, Ernman’s matter of fact narration feels so helpless for its everyday tone.
The second narrative thread on climate change is woven throughout the family story as Greta, in particular, begins to focus on the issue as the defining one of her life and the language of climate change becomes the one that gives her a voice way beyond what even her parents would have expected. We see her steps, baby and giant, that lead her to the moment when she decides to sit her tiny self in defiance in front of the Swedish Parliament with a self-made placard, altering her life and the lives of those around her forever.
So much has been said about Greta Thunberg and her family, and the very orbit around her is filled with intense and caustic argumentation. I am sure that this book draws no less complicated feelings and words. There will be those who continue to call her a puppet, a doomsday thinker, a fraud…I am pretty sure that Greta can deal with all that. And there are those that will continue to be inspired by her…more the better. This book does seek to inspire people to wake up and see the imminent threat to the planet…it is a book about/by Greta after all.
But this book is really about Greta and her family before she became that Greta Thunberg. It is an unpolished accounting – a little messy, a little naïve, a little difficult, a little earnest – but also refreshing because of all of that. There are bound to be more books about and/or by Greta Thunberg for years to come that will be full of veneer and unprecedented professionalism, but there will be none that so deftly and honestly recounts how it all began.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The second narrative thread on climate change is woven throughout the family story as Greta, in particular, begins to focus on the issue as the defining one of her life and the language of climate change becomes the one that gives her a voice way beyond what even her parents would have expected. We see her steps, baby and giant, that lead her to the moment when she decides to sit her tiny self in defiance in front of the Swedish Parliament with a self-made placard, altering her life and the lives of those around her forever.
So much has been said about Greta Thunberg and her family, and the very orbit around her is filled with intense and caustic argumentation. I am sure that this book draws no less complicated feelings and words. There will be those who continue to call her a puppet, a doomsday thinker, a fraud…I am pretty sure that Greta can deal with all that. And there are those that will continue to be inspired by her…more the better. This book does seek to inspire people to wake up and see the imminent threat to the planet…it is a book about/by Greta after all.
But this book is really about Greta and her family before she became that Greta Thunberg. It is an unpolished accounting – a little messy, a little naïve, a little difficult, a little earnest – but also refreshing because of all of that. There are bound to be more books about and/or by Greta Thunberg for years to come that will be full of veneer and unprecedented professionalism, but there will be none that so deftly and honestly recounts how it all began.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
serian's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0