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A review by ava
Having and Being Had by Eula Biss
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I first read an excerpt of this in Harper's magazine, which was pulled from the chapter "Investment". It was direct and intriguing and I enjoyed it enough to start the book.
This memoir in a series of essays is a critique of the capitalist system from the inside; it's been done many times before, but Bliss is willing to be harsh some places where others may not. Part one felt like a primer on issues I'm fully familiar with, and I kept thinking that everything I needed from this book was in that one chapter. The essays in this book do form a sort-of narrative when put together, but each functions just the same (or maybe better?) on its own, and for a while you're reading the same point expressed again and again through different metaphors.
About 2/3 of the way through, the chapters gain more variety and nuance, and I ended up loving the latter two sections out of the four. There is a shift from explaining to exploring, and it is grounded by the question of what it means to be an artist in this society: is it a luxury, a privilege, a right? The universality of this book comes not from home ownership or making investments, but the hollow awareness of living under capitalism.
All plot and message stuff aside: these were very enjoyable pieces to read. I don't have the vocabulary to describe exactly why, but the writing was great. Some little things that stuck out and I enjoyed: the author's insistence on using specific amounts of money (which is mentioned in the notes), how most of the chapter titles come from the last word(s) of the preceding chapter, and a good balance of narrative presence vs. deference to other works.
Chapters I though were the best: "Sin Stocks," "Blood," & "Bicycle Manifesto"
This memoir in a series of essays is a critique of the capitalist system from the inside; it's been done many times before, but Bliss is willing to be harsh some places where others may not. Part one felt like a primer on issues I'm fully familiar with, and I kept thinking that everything I needed from this book was in that one chapter. The essays in this book do form a sort-of narrative when put together, but each functions just the same (or maybe better?) on its own, and for a while you're reading the same point expressed again and again through different metaphors.
About 2/3 of the way through, the chapters gain more variety and nuance, and I ended up loving the latter two sections out of the four. There is a shift from explaining to exploring, and it is grounded by the question of what it means to be an artist in this society: is it a luxury, a privilege, a right? The universality of this book comes not from home ownership or making investments, but the hollow awareness of living under capitalism.
All plot and message stuff aside: these were very enjoyable pieces to read. I don't have the vocabulary to describe exactly why, but the writing was great. Some little things that stuck out and I enjoyed: the author's insistence on using specific amounts of money (which is mentioned in the notes), how most of the chapter titles come from the last word(s) of the preceding chapter, and a good balance of narrative presence vs. deference to other works.
Chapters I though were the best: "Sin Stocks," "Blood," & "Bicycle Manifesto"