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A review by pekoparty
Having and Being Had by Eula Biss
4.0
I learned so much by reading this book. I'll be keeping it around just for the notes section as reference. I really appreciated how, even though the gravity of the conversation was sometimes high, Eula Biss very naturally incorporated themes of empathy, understanding, and humor. All of this information sometimes it seems really inaccessible to me. I'm not an academic person and I have a difficult time reading. But it's as if Eula Biss did all this reading so I don't have to. Or at least, so I don't have to feel scared too. I'm definitely thinking more broadly about the world after reading this and I'm very grateful for this book. I learned so many new things about names and places and objects that I'm already familiar with.
I did find that I found myself questioning if Eula Biss, a White woman, was the right person to be talking about some of the topics in here, specifically as pertaining to Black people or communities of color. What I realized is that this is an observation, or a meditation, on the world, on capital, on scarcity, and other compounding factors that make our society what it is. Biss has an incredible knack for collecting information and redistributing it. She is fully aware of her position within society. She takes us along with her.
I did find that I found myself questioning if Eula Biss, a White woman, was the right person to be talking about some of the topics in here, specifically as pertaining to Black people or communities of color. What I realized is that this is an observation, or a meditation, on the world, on capital, on scarcity, and other compounding factors that make our society what it is. Biss has an incredible knack for collecting information and redistributing it. She is fully aware of her position within society. She takes us along with her.