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375 reviews for:
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sasha Sagan
4.11 AVERAGE
375 reviews for:
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sasha Sagan
4.11 AVERAGE
I loved this. So much. That’s it, that’s the review.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
This was just what I needed and a great read for anyone who, like me, isn’t really sure about a lot of things but wants to celebrate the wonder of our lives.
Really lovely. I intend to purchase the paperback so I can mark it up with notes and underline to my heart’s content.
Going into this book at the beginning of 2021, I didn't realize how much it would affect me. Pessimism and cynicism had crept into my day to day life, and reading this felt like applying a salve. I've always been a person who scoffed at rituals. Motivational speeches, religious rites of passage, I'll see myself out, thanks. Sasha Sagan wrote a book which made me realize that waking up at 5 a.m. every day to take my dogs out is a ritual, and it does a lot to cherish those 3 minutes.
At one point, she discusses (I'm very much paraphrasing) how she, being agnostic, does not believe in reincarnation. At the same time, her daughter has the signature "sigh for attention" of her late grandfather. It's just DNA, passed down for generations, but just because there's a scientific explanation, does that make it any less of a miracle?
In the end, I came away from this feeling like yes, there is a lot to be bummed about in life. But it's also incredible that my great grandparents survived WW1, moved from Hungary and Poland to Michigan where their children met, survived WW2, had my parents, had me, moved to Connecticut, moved to Colorado 24 years later to meet my partner who was born and raised in Iowa. Celebrating rituals, big or small, is something I can do to remember that.
p.s. I'd still love to move the 5 a.m. ritual wake up to maybe like 6.
At one point, she discusses (I'm very much paraphrasing) how she, being agnostic, does not believe in reincarnation. At the same time, her daughter has the signature "sigh for attention" of her late grandfather. It's just DNA, passed down for generations, but just because there's a scientific explanation, does that make it any less of a miracle?
In the end, I came away from this feeling like yes, there is a lot to be bummed about in life. But it's also incredible that my great grandparents survived WW1, moved from Hungary and Poland to Michigan where their children met, survived WW2, had my parents, had me, moved to Connecticut, moved to Colorado 24 years later to meet my partner who was born and raised in Iowa. Celebrating rituals, big or small, is something I can do to remember that.
p.s. I'd still love to move the 5 a.m. ritual wake up to maybe like 6.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I chose to listen to the audio book read by the author. Sasha’s enthusiastic reading is enjoyable. As for the the content, I would say it is as much a personal memoir as an essay on ritual. I was mostly interested in the concept of non-religious ritual. Much of the book is, however, about religious ritual. It was informative in that way. Sasha comes across as a very positive person and it is perhaps because of this that her take on religious ritual barely addresses any negatives of such.
I was glad to hear her acknowledge that she has lived a life of relative privilege - her growing up with a nanny, dining out in NYC, with her closest large group of girlfriends, her perfect wedding, birth of her first child etc. She is also candid about the loss of her father and others. It is clear that she benefitted from thoughtful, caring and well informed parents. She also benefitted from a tradition of secular Judaism. To be fair, it’s her story to tell and she does it well.
I thought that this book would offer more to the non-believing and formerly religious. It does offer some creative thoughts about making new rituals, but I feel that it doesn’t acknowledge that not everyone thinks it’s so wonderful that the world has so many ways to celebrate. To this day, boys and girls have their bodies mutilated through circumcision, women are given away as property in marriage, people are told what and when to eat, what they can and cannot wear and promised a myriad of things about ‘life’ after death that cannot be demonstrated.
For me, presenting religious ritual and secular ritual as two harmless versions of the same thing is not fully acknowledging the truth of the matter. Overall, it’s still a good read.
I was glad to hear her acknowledge that she has lived a life of relative privilege - her growing up with a nanny, dining out in NYC, with her closest large group of girlfriends, her perfect wedding, birth of her first child etc. She is also candid about the loss of her father and others. It is clear that she benefitted from thoughtful, caring and well informed parents. She also benefitted from a tradition of secular Judaism. To be fair, it’s her story to tell and she does it well.
I thought that this book would offer more to the non-believing and formerly religious. It does offer some creative thoughts about making new rituals, but I feel that it doesn’t acknowledge that not everyone thinks it’s so wonderful that the world has so many ways to celebrate. To this day, boys and girls have their bodies mutilated through circumcision, women are given away as property in marriage, people are told what and when to eat, what they can and cannot wear and promised a myriad of things about ‘life’ after death that cannot be demonstrated.
For me, presenting religious ritual and secular ritual as two harmless versions of the same thing is not fully acknowledging the truth of the matter. Overall, it’s still a good read.