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A review by sandpiiper
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
5.0
well i wrote a review of this book and then it decided to delete itself so here’s a shot at re-phrasing the 5 paragraph essay i had written out before.
“Vertigo invades when the world we thought we knew no longer holds. The known world is crumbling. That’s okay. It was an edifice stitched together with denial and disavowal, with unseeing and unknowing, with mirrors and shadows. It needed to crash. Now, in the rubble, we can make something more reliable, more worthy of our trust, more able to survive the coming shocks.”
wow. this is easily my book of the year, perhaps even of the last few years. this really blew me away. i’ve always admired klein’s work, and it’s hard to pick “the best” of her books. but this one is definitely my favorite.
klein manages to somehow combine critical political analysis — discussing anti-vax wellness culture, the rise of alt-right/q-anon conspiracy, personal branding, palestine (especially salient now, and incredibly incisive given that it was written before the most recent attack on palestine), psychoanalysis, and more — with a deeply moving and personal memoir, tracking her political/intellectual/emotional journey dealing with her own doppelgänger, while somehow never losing the thread throughout.
i also appreciated klein’s genuine care and dedication to progressive moments. while citing the failures of leftist movements in the modern age as a primary reason for the rise in “diagonalist” + alt-right popularity, she cites our losses not as a reason to give up, but rather as a motive for trying harder, for making things better.
lastly, i think doppelgänger tackles some of the most important political issues of the early 2020s, or at least my worst political fears and anxieties from the last few years. klein somehow manages to take those and not only make those fears digestible, but also turns them into sites of opportunity and inspiration.
obviously, klein isn’t perfect. a lot of her arguments have been argued before by authors less recognized than her, and nothing here is particularly Revolutionary. there’s some real criticism to be made of her belief in electoral politics or whatever other Leftist Check Marks she doesn’t pass, but that doesn’t detract from the rest that the book has to offer.
overall, i think doppelgänger is a must-read for anyone committed to leftist politics in the 2020s. naomi klein you will always be famous to me
“Vertigo invades when the world we thought we knew no longer holds. The known world is crumbling. That’s okay. It was an edifice stitched together with denial and disavowal, with unseeing and unknowing, with mirrors and shadows. It needed to crash. Now, in the rubble, we can make something more reliable, more worthy of our trust, more able to survive the coming shocks.”
wow. this is easily my book of the year, perhaps even of the last few years. this really blew me away. i’ve always admired klein’s work, and it’s hard to pick “the best” of her books. but this one is definitely my favorite.
klein manages to somehow combine critical political analysis — discussing anti-vax wellness culture, the rise of alt-right/q-anon conspiracy, personal branding, palestine (especially salient now, and incredibly incisive given that it was written before the most recent attack on palestine), psychoanalysis, and more — with a deeply moving and personal memoir, tracking her political/intellectual/emotional journey dealing with her own doppelgänger, while somehow never losing the thread throughout.
i also appreciated klein’s genuine care and dedication to progressive moments. while citing the failures of leftist movements in the modern age as a primary reason for the rise in “diagonalist” + alt-right popularity, she cites our losses not as a reason to give up, but rather as a motive for trying harder, for making things better.
lastly, i think doppelgänger tackles some of the most important political issues of the early 2020s, or at least my worst political fears and anxieties from the last few years. klein somehow manages to take those and not only make those fears digestible, but also turns them into sites of opportunity and inspiration.
obviously, klein isn’t perfect. a lot of her arguments have been argued before by authors less recognized than her, and nothing here is particularly Revolutionary. there’s some real criticism to be made of her belief in electoral politics or whatever other Leftist Check Marks she doesn’t pass, but that doesn’t detract from the rest that the book has to offer.
overall, i think doppelgänger is a must-read for anyone committed to leftist politics in the 2020s. naomi klein you will always be famous to me