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A review by cmorrisclark
Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life by Shauna Niequist
2.0
2.5/5
I really like the basic premise of the book-- finding joy in every day live. Choosing to look for joy. Soaking in the pleasure of everyday experiences.
However...
This felt a lot like reading a book of self-help cliches with a few deeper thoughts mixed in.
It's not a bad book. It just felt rather surfacy. It reads very much like a book by a privileged white woman, who loves to name drop stores like Anthropologie, Pottery Barn, and Paper Source. In one chapter, the author is talking about letting people into your "basement," the ugly, broken, imperfect parts of your life. And she goes on and on about a quirky dishwasher where the door drops down to fast. Like THAT is the hard, broken parts of her life. She gives a further list of her "basement"-- "my easily hurt feelings, my adolescent heartbreaks, my public failures, and the times I've tried to tell a joke and no one laughed."
Those are your deepest, darkest places???!?!?! Those are your wounds and hidden sides?
Ultimately, the author comes across as rather young and insecure. There are quite a few painful self-depreciating jabs that made me physically cringe, including calling herself "Jabba the Hut" on more than one occasion. The author does dive into talking about her body hate, and it is one of the most vulnerable places in the book. But there was still a lot of negative body talk that was painful and felt really unhealthy. Negative body thoughts I really didn't need to hear, that didn't feel helpful. It's hard enough to love your body as a woman. Listening to someone else put her body down makes it even harder.
I am aware that this is the first book published by this author. I imagine (hope) her subsequent works show greater levels of self awareness and depth. At this stage, I don't think I have the energy to read them.
I really like the basic premise of the book-- finding joy in every day live. Choosing to look for joy. Soaking in the pleasure of everyday experiences.
However...
This felt a lot like reading a book of self-help cliches with a few deeper thoughts mixed in.
It's not a bad book. It just felt rather surfacy. It reads very much like a book by a privileged white woman, who loves to name drop stores like Anthropologie, Pottery Barn, and Paper Source. In one chapter, the author is talking about letting people into your "basement," the ugly, broken, imperfect parts of your life. And she goes on and on about a quirky dishwasher where the door drops down to fast. Like THAT is the hard, broken parts of her life. She gives a further list of her "basement"-- "my easily hurt feelings, my adolescent heartbreaks, my public failures, and the times I've tried to tell a joke and no one laughed."
Those are your deepest, darkest places???!?!?! Those are your wounds and hidden sides?
Ultimately, the author comes across as rather young and insecure. There are quite a few painful self-depreciating jabs that made me physically cringe, including calling herself "Jabba the Hut" on more than one occasion. The author does dive into talking about her body hate, and it is one of the most vulnerable places in the book. But there was still a lot of negative body talk that was painful and felt really unhealthy. Negative body thoughts I really didn't need to hear, that didn't feel helpful. It's hard enough to love your body as a woman. Listening to someone else put her body down makes it even harder.
I am aware that this is the first book published by this author. I imagine (hope) her subsequent works show greater levels of self awareness and depth. At this stage, I don't think I have the energy to read them.