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A review by cat_book_lady
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
3.0
I love Brown's concept of embracing one's imperfections while shedding the shame that typically accompanies it. Brown has done some tremendous research here on how people look to others for validation and are hesitant to be their true selves due to fear of judgement and fear of seeing who they truly are. Brown is very optimistic and puts forth positive thinking as a change to the cognitive rut where people find themselves unhappily stuck.
But that's the extent of the book - wonderful platitudes that give a warm, fuzzy feeling to the reader and freedom to be your truly imperfect self. I just felt, though, that I came away from another "power of positive thinking" book without full depth into the spiritual self, which is utterly surprising considering she is a huge Christian author and speaker. It left me wondering why she didn't go there, and I felt like she was pandering to an audience that would sell more books instead of being her true self. To me, hypocrisy abounds because she stops short of revealing her faith (though she does briefly mention that people need a spiritual connectedness with a higher being).
The thing is, I also know many friends who love this book and feel wonderfully free after reading it, so I suppose the impact of her words cannot be discounted. I highlighted so many lines of powerful sentiments. And, I will still recommend this book to my friends who need to break the chains of imperfect shame. But personally, I am disappointed that she does not embrace herself, and what she doesn't say tells me more about her than what she does say.
But that's the extent of the book - wonderful platitudes that give a warm, fuzzy feeling to the reader and freedom to be your truly imperfect self. I just felt, though, that I came away from another "power of positive thinking" book without full depth into the spiritual self, which is utterly surprising considering she is a huge Christian author and speaker. It left me wondering why she didn't go there, and I felt like she was pandering to an audience that would sell more books instead of being her true self. To me, hypocrisy abounds because she stops short of revealing her faith (though she does briefly mention that people need a spiritual connectedness with a higher being).
The thing is, I also know many friends who love this book and feel wonderfully free after reading it, so I suppose the impact of her words cannot be discounted. I highlighted so many lines of powerful sentiments. And, I will still recommend this book to my friends who need to break the chains of imperfect shame. But personally, I am disappointed that she does not embrace herself, and what she doesn't say tells me more about her than what she does say.