Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis

18 reviews

avisreadsandreads's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Oh gawd, I feel like I've needed this book my whole adult life! I definitely need my own copy -- it feels like something to read over and over again.

Content Warnings

erinwolf1997's review

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

gwenswoons's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring relaxing fast-paced

5.0

I loved this book so much. It’s way outside my usual reading palette, and I’m so grateful Storygraph’s 2024 Genre Challenge helped nudge me to read it! A non-fiction book about psychology?!? Would never have found my way to this on my own, and I already feel the huge impact it will have in my life. I was struck again and again by the author’s ability to both do necessary reframing for us - like separating care tasks from moral successes/failings, as they’ve been societally framed for us - and to simultaneously reassure us, letting us know that changing these patterns in our brains will take time, and giving us inspiring achievable ideas to begin that work. I also deeply appreciated Davis’s acknowledgment of different needs and circumstances - so many conversations about self care and self help ignore forms of oppression and challenge, like systemic racism, financial inequity, neurodiversity, and mental health struggles: factors that can quite literally change and affect people’s abilities to do the same tasks others find easy and accessible. This book explores these things honestly and gently, and as someone who’s had serious struggles with anxiety and depression I felt seen and reflected in this book in a way I haven’t in many modern takes on related topics (whether in books or on social media, journalism, etc.). I’m short, I can’t recommend this book highly enough - truly helped me and I hope it might do the same for you. 💜

Content Warnings

leighwitz's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

I’m sad to give this 3 stars because I adore KC Davis and this what she has to say is fantastic. The book just didn’t do it for me, probably because I’ve followed her on TikTok for years and have already gotten the gist. I guess what I mean to say is that there just isn’t enough material here for a book. The concept of care tasks as morally neutral is wonderful and has been life-changing for so many people, but it’s a short and sweet concept that I think works best on a platform like TikTok. That being said, I’m glad this book exists and I think people who don’t follow KC on other platforms will get a lot out of it.

Some things I loved: the neurodivergent accessibility with bite-sized chapters, bringing in a Black writer to speak on protective hairstyles, and explaining metaphors as an access tool.

Some things I didn’t love: the bit of the book felt disjointed. I didn’t think the part about exercise and food really fit into the book which was about home care tasks. It’s not that I disliked what was being said (in fact k wholeheartedly agree with her points) but for me it serves as a friendly reminder because these are things I know and have thought about a lot. I worry that someone who really needs to hear these messages about food and exercise as morally neutral may need something more in depth.

Content Warnings

maddamreads's review

Go to review page

funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

I will be re-reading this book. Care tasks are very difficult for me and I struggle with perfectionism. KC has accessibly and genuinely laid out different ways of thinking of care tasks, applicable strategies, and reflective questions. The input from Imani Barbarin also expanded the book to be inclusive for disabled people and considerate of the black experience. Whether read as a reference or straight through, this is a wonderful book for ADHD, mentally ill, busy, and disabled adults (or even just any adult) to experience. There is a lot of stuff about parenting applicable to self-parenting. I wish she would have gone more into movement or in the future expand to working from home tasks.

Content Warnings

katiemack's review

Go to review page

emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

I read this book at the optimal time in my life. As someone who is postpartum and has perpetually dealt with a lifetime of blaming and shaming myself for not keeping a clean house or yard, KC Davis' words really resonated with me.

The book is short--150-ish pages--and concise, as Davis knows that some of her readers don't have the time or capacity to take in all of what they read. It's packed full of useful methods of perspective-shifting that aren't just "clean as you go" or "make a schedule" and emphasizes doing what works best for you. For me, the most valuable pieces of advice are about reframing chores as "care tasks" and doing them not because it's the morally correct thing to do but because I deserve to live in a clean house, to be kind to myself in this way. Her giving permission to not have everything be spotless all the time is also exactly what I needed to read right now.

If you're struggling in life right now, pick this up. If you don't want to read 150 pages, take her advice about which chapters to skip.

Content Warnings