A review by anneklein
Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee

3.5

I liked this book; I felt like I wanted its analysis and/or message to go a bit deeper, because it felt like a really good starting point to open conversations about housing, but either the book was too short or the author remained on a surface level for most of it. I did love the way that he described interiors, and the many pieces of art that he connected them to. I feel that Johnson-Schlee was skilled at weaving together the various threads of memoir, history/research, and his actual thoughts on these matters. Sometimes essays are heavy on memoir-esque anecdotes but don't go deep enough into the analysis of these anecdotes or of their implications, and then other times it just feels like a history book or manual. The author balanced all elements of nonfiction skillfully, and made them all relevant to each other. The sensorial descriptions were another pleasant element of the book, for instance when he was describing blankets and tapestries, or the velvet of sofas. Overall a very interesting book that I would recommend even though I wish it were longer! A lot of the ideas presented in it left me wanting to read more.