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A review by dalefu
The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism by Kristin Dombek
2.0
For such a short book, I found this a slog. I was ready to engage with the subject matter, but could not find a way to connect to the writing at all. The author's writing style veered between honest opinion and sarcastic straw-manning, and it was legitimately difficult to tell which side of the line she was on from paragraph to paragraph.
Combine that with the fact that I couldn't identify with any of the cultural reference points she used (examples include a subsection of the "blogosphere" dedicated to survivors of relationships with a narcissist, a star of the reality tv show My Super Sweet 16, professional asshole Tucker Max, etc), and the constant academic name-dropping, and I was left feeling completely disconnected from the book in my hands.
There were one or two interesting observations or ideas to take away from the book, but overall I can't say I recommend it.
Combine that with the fact that I couldn't identify with any of the cultural reference points she used (examples include a subsection of the "blogosphere" dedicated to survivors of relationships with a narcissist, a star of the reality tv show My Super Sweet 16, professional asshole Tucker Max, etc), and the constant academic name-dropping, and I was left feeling completely disconnected from the book in my hands.
There were one or two interesting observations or ideas to take away from the book, but overall I can't say I recommend it.