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A review by alikazam
The Simple Life: Penguin Specials by Rhonda Hetzel
medium-paced
1.0
While I am sure the author is a lovely person, and we'd likely get on, this book frustrated me. On the surface, I agree with its thesis - that a life lived outside the way capitalism and consumer has programmed us to think is more fulfilling. But it lacked a nuance and intersectional reflectiveness that... just made me angry.
A simple life, like the one discussed, is simply not achievable by many. While the author rediscovers the lost arts of mending clothes and making soup from scraps, that is the reality for most people because they don't have any other choices. And it is a not a joy to be stuck in the cycle of poverty. Likewise, the idea that any can achieve this homemaking bliss with hard work is divorced from the realities a lot of people live in.
For one, homeownership is nearly impossible for most people not already on the property ladder in many parts of the world, and a lot of people couldn't even afford the start-up costs of farming a garden as the author discusses.
Likewise, access to a job where you can earn to save for this idea is also blocked by barriers of race, gender, location, and whether you are able-bodied and neurotypical. It's all good to discuss these things while farming indigenous land, purchased through a career in the mining industry - but maybe these things need to be acknowledged and reflected on?
I went into this hoping for an anti-capitalism discussion on living a more mindful and environmentally life. And maybe... I wasn't the intended audience for a book like this. The values, on a whole, are agreeable - but the execution wasn't there.
A simple life, like the one discussed, is simply not achievable by many. While the author rediscovers the lost arts of mending clothes and making soup from scraps, that is the reality for most people because they don't have any other choices. And it is a not a joy to be stuck in the cycle of poverty. Likewise, the idea that any can achieve this homemaking bliss with hard work is divorced from the realities a lot of people live in.
For one, homeownership is nearly impossible for most people not already on the property ladder in many parts of the world, and a lot of people couldn't even afford the start-up costs of farming a garden as the author discusses.
Likewise, access to a job where you can earn to save for this idea is also blocked by barriers of race, gender, location, and whether you are able-bodied and neurotypical. It's all good to discuss these things while farming indigenous land, purchased through a career in the mining industry - but maybe these things need to be acknowledged and reflected on?
I went into this hoping for an anti-capitalism discussion on living a more mindful and environmentally life. And maybe... I wasn't the intended audience for a book like this. The values, on a whole, are agreeable - but the execution wasn't there.