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ealtschuler's review against another edition
3.0
Some good nuggets of wisdom but sometimes felt too preach-y!
adrianagoycoolea's review against another edition
4.0
Read for 75 hard
Favorite quotes:
“Maybe it’s not insane to reject the world as it is. Maybe the real insanity is surrendering to the world as it is. Maybe pretending that things around here are just fine is no badge of honor I want to wear.”
“I learned that overeating, drinking, and debugging were actually not my problems; they were my ineffective solutions. My actual problems are clinical depression and anxiety.”
“The opposite of sensitive is not brave. It’s not brave to refuse to pay attention, to refuse to notice, to refuse to feel and know and imagine.”
“Ten is when the world sat me down, told me to be quiet, and pointed toward my cages:
These are the feelings you are allowed to express.
This is how a woman should act.
This is the body you must strive for.
These are the things you will believe.
These are the people you can love.
Those are the people you should fear.
This is the kind of life you’re supposed to want.”
“It doesn’t seem like being alive is as hard for other people as it is for me. It just feels like there’s some kind of secret to life I don’t know. Like I’m doing it all wrong.”
“That is what I can and must avoid: missing my own evolution because I am too afraid to surrender to the process. Having such little faith in myself that I numb or hide or consume my way out of my fiery feelings again and again. So my goal is to stop abandoning myself—and stay. To trust that I’m strong enough to handle the pain that is necessary to the process of being.”
“The problem is that the parts of themselves that our boys have been banished from are not feminine traits; they are human traits.”
“It wasn’t enough for women to have equality with men; they needed to have equality with each other.”
“You are here to decide if your life, relationships, and world are true and beautiful enough for you. And if they are not and you dare to admit they are not, you must decide if you have the guts, the right—perhaps even the duty—to burn to the ground that which is not true and beautiful enough and get started building what is.”
“The point is that if we can find good in those we’ve been trained to see as bad, if we can find worth in those we’ve been conditioned to see as worthless, if we can find ourselves in those we’ve been indoctrinated to see as other, then we become unable to hurt them. When we stop hurting them, we stop hurting ourselves. When we stop hurting ourselves, we begin to heal.”
“This is how white evangelicals became the most powerful and influential voting bloc in the United states and the fuel of the American white supremacy engine. That’s how the evangelical leaders get away with the stunning hypocrisy of keeping their money, racism, misogyny, classism, nationalism, weapons, war, and corruption while purporting to lead the name of a white man who dedicated his life to ending war, serving orphans and widows, healing the sick, welcoming immigrants, valuing women and children, and giving power and money away to the poor. This is also why all a political candidate must do to ear evangelical alliance is claim to be antiabortion and anti gay—even if the candidate is a man who hates and abused women, who stockpiles money and reject immigrants, who indicates racism and bigotry, who loves every way antithetical to Jesus’s teachings. Jesus, the cross, and the identity “pro-life” are just shiny decals evangelical leaders slap on top of their own interests. They just keep pushing the memo: ‘Don’t thing, don’t feel, don’t know. Just be against abortion and gays and keep on voting. That’s how to live like Jesus.’ “
Favorite quotes:
“Maybe it’s not insane to reject the world as it is. Maybe the real insanity is surrendering to the world as it is. Maybe pretending that things around here are just fine is no badge of honor I want to wear.”
“I learned that overeating, drinking, and debugging were actually not my problems; they were my ineffective solutions. My actual problems are clinical depression and anxiety.”
“The opposite of sensitive is not brave. It’s not brave to refuse to pay attention, to refuse to notice, to refuse to feel and know and imagine.”
“Ten is when the world sat me down, told me to be quiet, and pointed toward my cages:
These are the feelings you are allowed to express.
This is how a woman should act.
This is the body you must strive for.
These are the things you will believe.
These are the people you can love.
Those are the people you should fear.
This is the kind of life you’re supposed to want.”
“It doesn’t seem like being alive is as hard for other people as it is for me. It just feels like there’s some kind of secret to life I don’t know. Like I’m doing it all wrong.”
“That is what I can and must avoid: missing my own evolution because I am too afraid to surrender to the process. Having such little faith in myself that I numb or hide or consume my way out of my fiery feelings again and again. So my goal is to stop abandoning myself—and stay. To trust that I’m strong enough to handle the pain that is necessary to the process of being.”
“The problem is that the parts of themselves that our boys have been banished from are not feminine traits; they are human traits.”
“It wasn’t enough for women to have equality with men; they needed to have equality with each other.”
“You are here to decide if your life, relationships, and world are true and beautiful enough for you. And if they are not and you dare to admit they are not, you must decide if you have the guts, the right—perhaps even the duty—to burn to the ground that which is not true and beautiful enough and get started building what is.”
“The point is that if we can find good in those we’ve been trained to see as bad, if we can find worth in those we’ve been conditioned to see as worthless, if we can find ourselves in those we’ve been indoctrinated to see as other, then we become unable to hurt them. When we stop hurting them, we stop hurting ourselves. When we stop hurting ourselves, we begin to heal.”
“This is how white evangelicals became the most powerful and influential voting bloc in the United states and the fuel of the American white supremacy engine. That’s how the evangelical leaders get away with the stunning hypocrisy of keeping their money, racism, misogyny, classism, nationalism, weapons, war, and corruption while purporting to lead the name of a white man who dedicated his life to ending war, serving orphans and widows, healing the sick, welcoming immigrants, valuing women and children, and giving power and money away to the poor. This is also why all a political candidate must do to ear evangelical alliance is claim to be antiabortion and anti gay—even if the candidate is a man who hates and abused women, who stockpiles money and reject immigrants, who indicates racism and bigotry, who loves every way antithetical to Jesus’s teachings. Jesus, the cross, and the identity “pro-life” are just shiny decals evangelical leaders slap on top of their own interests. They just keep pushing the memo: ‘Don’t thing, don’t feel, don’t know. Just be against abortion and gays and keep on voting. That’s how to live like Jesus.’ “
hala84's review against another edition
Hit too close to home. Wasn’t ready to read it.
embee007's review
Suggested to me: I read the Prologue & Chapter 1, decidedly NOT for me.
I will rarely read nonfiction, so it has to catch my interest.
This line in the Prologue definitely caught my interest... "Unaware that if she remembered her wildness—just for a moment—she could tear those zookeepers to shreds." Since, ya know...Cheetahs have never been known to attack humans in recorded history 🤷♀️
I can already tell from the language used in the opening pages, Doyle will be preaching at me, & believing her experience is the "Universal Experience." (A quick peek at some other reviews has confirmed this for me.)
I just read a pretty good Feminist Fantasy Manifesto in When We Were Dragons, that used broadstrokes & didn't preach - I don't need this.
If you are not like me, & this sounds perfect for you, enjoy!
I will rarely read nonfiction, so it has to catch my interest.
This line in the Prologue definitely caught my interest... "Unaware that if she remembered her wildness—just for a moment—she could tear those zookeepers to shreds." Since, ya know...Cheetahs have never been known to attack humans in recorded history 🤷♀️
I can already tell from the language used in the opening pages, Doyle will be preaching at me, & believing her experience is the "Universal Experience." (A quick peek at some other reviews has confirmed this for me.)
I just read a pretty good Feminist Fantasy Manifesto in When We Were Dragons, that used broadstrokes & didn't preach - I don't need this.
If you are not like me, & this sounds perfect for you, enjoy!
Content Warnings
Confident misinformation
stephaniesteen73's review against another edition
4.0
Powerful and fierce. Her words will stick with me for a long time.
sassidylooksy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0