Reviews

Clutter: An Untidy History by Jennifer Howard

emmaleanne's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative slow-paced

3.0

carlaah1984's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

toofondofbooks's review against another edition

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reflective

3.0

glecharles's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

"We're drowning in the byproducts of a system that makes productivity a priority and encourages people to be consumers first and foremost." (pg 139)

Part memoir of a moment, part history of why so many of us have too much stuff in our homes. About 2/3rds through, "Swedish death-cleaning" unexpectedly made it a more poignant read than I was expecting, and by the end I had a new perspective on recycling, individual responsibilities, and my own possible digital hoarding problem. 😬

👍🏽👍🏽

jschulz21's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

katums's review against another edition

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challenging informative

shanaqui's review against another edition

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informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.0

This is less of a history and more of a quick survey of the general idea of what clutter is, how it happens, why it's driven by consumerism, aaaand how that applies to her own mother's life and actions. Almost memoir-y, honestly; a personal look at the subject.

Which is not bad, but I'd hoped for something different, something more of a history.

funsizelibrarian's review against another edition

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4.0

This well researched, well written book looks at the rise of owning too much stuff. It's not a book about what to do with your clutter or how to organize, but instead researches and relates the why of it all. Very interesting!

heykellyjensen's review against another edition

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I don't feel like this book offered anything new that hasn't been said in other recent -- and less-recent -- books about fast fashion, consumer culture, recycling, and waste. That so many quotes and insights are from those books makes me wonder why this needed to be an entire book at all.

The audiobook was pretty poorly produced, sounding as if numerous women performed it, instead of a single one. The cuts, the jumps, the volume shifts were all really jarring and amateur.

shewantsthediction's review against another edition

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informative reflective

3.0