A review by casskrug
The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood

3.75

finally got to this one after letting it sit on my TBR shelf forever! this was an incredibly quick read that i was entertained by while reading, but i’m not sure how much sticking power it’ll have as i get further away from the reading experience.

the life of the mind is exactly what the title sounds like - we are in the headspace of dorothy, an adjunct professor whose academic career is flailing. a lot of her thoughts and experiences center around the miscarriage that she recently had and is keeping a secret from almost everyone in her life. this is a classic woman on the edge, no plot just vibes book. reminiscent of practice by rosalind brown, especially the frankness with which the narrators talk about their bodily functions.

really enjoyed smallwood’s writing style and the way she blended humor with heavier topics. dorothy’s observations felt pretty poignant and relatable. it was a quick, incredibly readable book, but there just wasn’t much to hold onto and i fear i’ll forget it pretty quickly. waffling between a 3.5⭐️ or a 4⭐️

“What a strange and old-fashioned collective experience, she said, the idea that people could all die together in one heaven-bound moment; today you had to first watch other people, some of whom lived very far away and others of whom were technically neighbors, die online, and you couldn't save them, and all the while you could be next.”