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A review by tanzreads
101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
slow-paced
0.0
This book aspires to be a collection of brilliant substack pieces that alter the way I see and interact with the world, but instead it is a 2016 buzzfeed listicle. Most of the essays are not essays at all, but a series of questions with no valuable thought between it. Individual essays are full of contradictions, and tangential sentences that sound nice but mean nothing. The book as a whole contradicts itself like it will turn to dust if it tries to have a fully formed thought. It fails like most self help does: clamoring together buzzwords and fun catch phrases that are altogether meaningless.
The author's privilege shines through this book. One essay in and you're immediately transported into a different world where white people say "my family isn't rich, but we're comfortable 😌". If you're anything but a rich white able bodied person, this book has absolutely nothing for you.
At best, some of the essays were vapid and empty, and relatable to maybe the 5% of the population who came from a privileged enough set of circumstances that this book is relevant to them. But at worst, the advice in it was harmful, dangerous, and made me go "WHAT?!". She continually tells the reader to replace one anxiety with another, to trade in fixations from one harmful spiral to another, different harmful spiral.
I want to say that this book should have been given a thorough edit. But honestly, it shouldn't exist. You can get all this by reading a haphazardly thrown together Instagram carousel.
The author's privilege shines through this book. One essay in and you're immediately transported into a different world where white people say "my family isn't rich, but we're comfortable 😌". If you're anything but a rich white able bodied person, this book has absolutely nothing for you.
At best, some of the essays were vapid and empty, and relatable to maybe the 5% of the population who came from a privileged enough set of circumstances that this book is relevant to them. But at worst, the advice in it was harmful, dangerous, and made me go "WHAT?!". She continually tells the reader to replace one anxiety with another, to trade in fixations from one harmful spiral to another, different harmful spiral.
I want to say that this book should have been given a thorough edit. But honestly, it shouldn't exist. You can get all this by reading a haphazardly thrown together Instagram carousel.