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purls_and_ponderings's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
fran_gel's review
medium-paced
3.0
Some of this was really interesting and some of this was a bit basic. I like d the memoir bits but the activism was quite basic. I was expecting a little more statistics but it was interesting nonetheless
katyoctober's review
Caution: this is a mixed review, sadly. So no star rating as I can’t decide.
I went for this book as Otegha Uwagba is consistently my favourite person on Twitter. She really has some of the best commentary on modern life that’s out there.
I absolutely loved this book when it was the authors original thought and writing. By this, I don’t mean the laying bare of her personal life story (though that was of course very interesting, as she rightly says, no one should have to sell and trade off their most private experiences in order to sell books and articles. Especially not women, black peoples..), but I mean, for example, the sections where she quantifies her beauty toll, in time and money. This kind of original thought is where Uwagba shines. I think she’s such an original thinker and I just love her style. Especially in the audiobook, you really get to benefit from her amazing reading; I would absolutely love to see her speak live.
Where the book fell flat for me were the feminism-lite bits. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree and should stick to reading just feminist scholars and not complaining, but I often found that the author would make a standard fourth wave feminism point (I.e. Internet feminism), but then the references were shoe horned in after. It reminds me of my more rushed essays at university. I don’t think she really needed to do this - the ideas weren’t so complex that they needed citing - a reading list at the back of the book would have sufficed and would read more smoothly.
Finally, I found the multiple passages deriding the kardashians to be low hanging fruit. They didn’t need to be there, even once. The book is plenty as it is….It’s like sticking a plaster over a chicken pox scar. They’re just the symptom - patriarchal society which means women must reinvent themselves physically, not mentally, to be relevant is the underlying virus! I’m honestly so tired of this. Even the attack, specifically, on the curvaceous bodies of the kardashians - do we all really have collective amnesia over Kate Moss’ popularisation of anorexia in the 90s/00s? Again, here, the point I’m making is it’s not the women actors that are the problem. It’s the underlying agents. No matter how rich these women are, and all the future women will be, I can assure you that their agents, their business managers, all of the satellite men around them, their merchandise manufacturers- THEY are the ones making the real money!
In conclusion, my review is similar to that of Nell Frizzell’s ‘Panic Years’, which I also recently read and enjoyed. Good book! But not one to read if in search of brand new feminist ideas. It’s a hybrid of guardian articles and memoir.
I went for this book as Otegha Uwagba is consistently my favourite person on Twitter. She really has some of the best commentary on modern life that’s out there.
I absolutely loved this book when it was the authors original thought and writing. By this, I don’t mean the laying bare of her personal life story (though that was of course very interesting, as she rightly says, no one should have to sell and trade off their most private experiences in order to sell books and articles. Especially not women, black peoples..), but I mean, for example, the sections where she quantifies her beauty toll, in time and money. This kind of original thought is where Uwagba shines. I think she’s such an original thinker and I just love her style. Especially in the audiobook, you really get to benefit from her amazing reading; I would absolutely love to see her speak live.
Where the book fell flat for me were the feminism-lite bits. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree and should stick to reading just feminist scholars and not complaining, but I often found that the author would make a standard fourth wave feminism point (I.e. Internet feminism), but then the references were shoe horned in after. It reminds me of my more rushed essays at university. I don’t think she really needed to do this - the ideas weren’t so complex that they needed citing - a reading list at the back of the book would have sufficed and would read more smoothly.
Finally, I found the multiple passages deriding the kardashians to be low hanging fruit. They didn’t need to be there, even once. The book is plenty as it is….It’s like sticking a plaster over a chicken pox scar. They’re just the symptom - patriarchal society which means women must reinvent themselves physically, not mentally, to be relevant is the underlying virus! I’m honestly so tired of this. Even the attack, specifically, on the curvaceous bodies of the kardashians - do we all really have collective amnesia over Kate Moss’ popularisation of anorexia in the 90s/00s? Again, here, the point I’m making is it’s not the women actors that are the problem. It’s the underlying agents. No matter how rich these women are, and all the future women will be, I can assure you that their agents, their business managers, all of the satellite men around them, their merchandise manufacturers- THEY are the ones making the real money!
In conclusion, my review is similar to that of Nell Frizzell’s ‘Panic Years’, which I also recently read and enjoyed. Good book! But not one to read if in search of brand new feminist ideas. It’s a hybrid of guardian articles and memoir.
davidgilani's review
5.0
Loved this book! Otegha is a great story-teller. I liked how this book includes a number of challenges that she's faced, but that it doesn't come across as 'complainy'. It's very good at balancing topics that effect almost all people growing up / moving into adulthood over the last decade or so... but whilst also pointing out how this will be very different based on how wealthy your family is, your race and your gender. It also covers a really good mix of scenarios / parts of her journey... keeping up with what friends buy at school... managing finances at university... getting your first job... surviving in the rental market... moving jobs... challenging conversations with friends who have (family) money.
ghazalg's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I've followed the author and her work for a while and I've been meaning to read this book. Perhaps because I was familiar with her work, I had higher expectations of the book but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. The book tackles money in a.. more indirect way, looking at the other areas of life that it impacts from the lived experience of a first-gen immigrant. I'd say that I would have probably valued, enjoyed and rated this book higher if I had read this in my early 20's. I think it's useful reading for many young people particularly in this financial situation we're in.