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leanne_fornelli_pepitone 's review for:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know
by Malcolm Gladwell
This was truly one of the more riveting and interesting reads of my year. Gladwell gives us a lot to think about here.
Like many other reviewers noted, the book was not at all what I expected. This was far from disappointing, but instead an intriguing surprise. I thought I was buying a book on how to get it right with people. Instead, it’s about why we always get it so wrong.
There’s a lot of compelling arguments. For sure, Gladwell is saying something new that will serve as amazing book club fodder. But, he oversimplifies the problems he identifies in an effort to push his points.
For example, the chapter on the Cuban spies and Sylvia Plath? Brilliant. He really had me. He lost me on Brock Turner and Sandra Bland. Why? Because while he hinted at the sicknesses in our society that cause sexual violence and violence against people of color, he downplayed their role. And I get it — these things, especially for these cases — have been talked about to the extent that there may be nothing new to say. But Gladwell lose credibility with me by trying to make it about something else entirely — his theory and his theory only.
In short: This is worth the read. You will come away reconsidering your daily interactions with strangers and pondering Gladwell’s theories, even testing them out in social situations. But you also might be left with the queasy feeling that he’s justifying racism in our society and the actions of people who have sexually assaulted others. Then, like me, this book will miss its mark.
Like many other reviewers noted, the book was not at all what I expected. This was far from disappointing, but instead an intriguing surprise. I thought I was buying a book on how to get it right with people. Instead, it’s about why we always get it so wrong.
There’s a lot of compelling arguments. For sure, Gladwell is saying something new that will serve as amazing book club fodder. But, he oversimplifies the problems he identifies in an effort to push his points.
For example, the chapter on the Cuban spies and Sylvia Plath? Brilliant. He really had me. He lost me on Brock Turner and Sandra Bland. Why? Because while he hinted at the sicknesses in our society that cause sexual violence and violence against people of color, he downplayed their role. And I get it — these things, especially for these cases — have been talked about to the extent that there may be nothing new to say. But Gladwell lose credibility with me by trying to make it about something else entirely — his theory and his theory only.
In short: This is worth the read. You will come away reconsidering your daily interactions with strangers and pondering Gladwell’s theories, even testing them out in social situations. But you also might be left with the queasy feeling that he’s justifying racism in our society and the actions of people who have sexually assaulted others. Then, like me, this book will miss its mark.