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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Another wonderful resource book to add to my personal library! I must admit, I fantasize daily about quitting my job and living out the rest of my days in a more self-sufficient way.
Emily Matchar’s book weighs out both sides. I have secretly wanted to live a more homesteading life for the last 20 years. But my husband’s career often has us moving. I just want to settle down and grow some roots. I am now 53 years old and dread every day that I have to go into the office. But financially we are not in any position for me to just up and quit my job.
So I am looking at ways to pay off our existing debt. I am going to start urban homestead living just to help that part of me live my dreams.
Thank you Emily for such a well researched and thought provoking book.
Emily Matchar’s book weighs out both sides. I have secretly wanted to live a more homesteading life for the last 20 years. But my husband’s career often has us moving. I just want to settle down and grow some roots. I am now 53 years old and dread every day that I have to go into the office. But financially we are not in any position for me to just up and quit my job.
So I am looking at ways to pay off our existing debt. I am going to start urban homestead living just to help that part of me live my dreams.
Thank you Emily for such a well researched and thought provoking book.
Best Book I've read all year! An absolute must read for Gen-Y women and men alike! The author does an incredibly apt job of explaining the rise "New Domesticity" returns to the home: scratch cooking, handmade crafts, farming, natural parenting, etc., and how this return to hearth and home has impacted the role of modern women as active members of the working class, turning away from the ideals of glass-ceiling breaking, liberal feminist baby boomers. I also found the parallels between the secular uber liberal Eco-fanatacists and the religious, conservative right win incredibly interesting (Chapter 9) and the in-depth descriptions of why more women today are cultural feminists v. liberal feminists (Chapter 6).
Above all, this book is a call to action for women and men, to make our lives better not selfishly for ourselves, but society at large.
READ THIS BOOK!!!
Some of my favorite quotes in the book include:
Rise of the division of Labor between men and women: "On a Colonial homestead, men and women had clearly contributed to the bottom line by raising pigs and sowing wheat. But in the new, cash-reliant economy of the 1800s, labor was now valued by the amount of money it earned. Therefore, men did 'work,' while women did 'homemaking.' The world was split into separate spheres: home became 'inside' and the domain of women, while the working world became 'outside,' the province of men. The separate-sphere ideology of "women housewife, man breadwinner" was born.
Introducing the term "femivore": "Use food as an unexpected out from the feminist predicament, a way for women to embrace homemaking without becoming Betty Draper."
On food safety and the return to scratch cooking and gardening: "Our outsized expectations of what food can do lead to an outsized sense of guilt among the the group traditionally responsible for food:women. If we truly believe that food is unsafe, that we can heal our children's illnesses through homemade food, that we were all better off 150 years ago, then it's no wonder that we feel like we should focus our lives around the stove."
The quote that I can't believe someone said: ""The goal of getting women into the boardroom was wrong," he says. "It seemed right at the time, but it was the wrong question, the boardroom is the wrong path...so if the question of getting women into the boardroom is taken off the table, then what is the question we're asking." To Ruben, achieving gender equality in the workplace is not an important goal, because the workplace is fundamentally a 'shitty' place anyway."
A self-fulfilling prophecy: "It's clear that my friends and I have been deeply affected by the attitude shift from the 'have it all' mantra of the eighties and nineties to the 'balance is impossible' narrative of today. So even as we successfully balance work and family, we are just waiting for it to come tumbling down on our heads. I wonder how much of this will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. How many of us, plagued with the idea that you can't have it all, will end up quitting our much-loved jobs at the first sign of opposition?"
Thinking about "Modern homesteading:" "Of course when 'homemaker' means spending your day carding wool to sell at the farmer's market, trading chicks for blog ad space, and taking digital photos of your sheep, it's hard to know what "traditional" really means."
Above all, this book is a call to action for women and men, to make our lives better not selfishly for ourselves, but society at large.
READ THIS BOOK!!!
Some of my favorite quotes in the book include:
Rise of the division of Labor between men and women: "On a Colonial homestead, men and women had clearly contributed to the bottom line by raising pigs and sowing wheat. But in the new, cash-reliant economy of the 1800s, labor was now valued by the amount of money it earned. Therefore, men did 'work,' while women did 'homemaking.' The world was split into separate spheres: home became 'inside' and the domain of women, while the working world became 'outside,' the province of men. The separate-sphere ideology of "women housewife, man breadwinner" was born.
Introducing the term "femivore": "Use food as an unexpected out from the feminist predicament, a way for women to embrace homemaking without becoming Betty Draper."
On food safety and the return to scratch cooking and gardening: "Our outsized expectations of what food can do lead to an outsized sense of guilt among the the group traditionally responsible for food:women. If we truly believe that food is unsafe, that we can heal our children's illnesses through homemade food, that we were all better off 150 years ago, then it's no wonder that we feel like we should focus our lives around the stove."
The quote that I can't believe someone said: ""The goal of getting women into the boardroom was wrong," he says. "It seemed right at the time, but it was the wrong question, the boardroom is the wrong path...so if the question of getting women into the boardroom is taken off the table, then what is the question we're asking." To Ruben, achieving gender equality in the workplace is not an important goal, because the workplace is fundamentally a 'shitty' place anyway."
A self-fulfilling prophecy: "It's clear that my friends and I have been deeply affected by the attitude shift from the 'have it all' mantra of the eighties and nineties to the 'balance is impossible' narrative of today. So even as we successfully balance work and family, we are just waiting for it to come tumbling down on our heads. I wonder how much of this will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. How many of us, plagued with the idea that you can't have it all, will end up quitting our much-loved jobs at the first sign of opposition?"
Thinking about "Modern homesteading:" "Of course when 'homemaker' means spending your day carding wool to sell at the farmer's market, trading chicks for blog ad space, and taking digital photos of your sheep, it's hard to know what "traditional" really means."
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Certainly not the most well written or researched book. It was annoying at times and repetitive, and odd. That being said, she did raise issue that I haven't seen discussed before. Like loss of security if you stay home. Dependence on men etc. That leaving the workplace isn't the solution and that instead we need to work, change society and workplaces to be more family friendly. That by retreating we are leaving other women who don’t have our privilege to cop it. She is also quite cynical about the joys of diy and staying at home. That it’s an isolating, unrelenting slog unless you are also getting validation as a blogger etc. It was good to read something on this topic written by someone on the outside, rather than by someone romanticising and selling an idyllic at home lifestyle.
Really fascinating read about the current DIY culture that looks at it from many angles.
I hope this book is widely read and discussed. It ended up being better- and worse- than I expected, and I can't wait to talk about it with other women. I think she makes some important observations about what's happening in society right now, relating the rise in what she calls the "new domesticity" now in vogue in certain circles: sewing, raising chickens, homesteading, homeschooling, homemade everything. I liked her ability to find the common thread in what's driving this return to "simpler living" and her questions about whether this is the next stage of feminism or a rebuke of it. Not as big a fan of her take on mothering issues (Matchar herself isn't a mom and misses some points by a mile.) Not a big fan of her constantly trying to sway readers with her adjective choices, either. Women all seemed to fall in 3 categories: hipster with tattoos showing, quiet woman wearing khakis and sitting on a beige couch in a beige room, or "crunchy." Overall, a quick and interesting read.
I was interested in the book because I live in a town that is full of backyard chicken keepers, back yard bee keepers and farmers markets. There is a ton of local food and local hand made crafts. I read about this "New Domesticity" in the Indy and thought it sounded curious. The book did a good job of exploring the many facets of New Domesticity including DIY everything from crafts to parenting. I was irritated much of the time while reading because so many of the folks she interviewed held the "I'm sooooo much better than you because I birthed at home, breastfed until my kids were 6 and never feed my family cereal from a box!" Get out of here. I honestly couldn't, and still can't having finished the book, figure out how these domestic housewives can cook everything from scratch from their homegrown gardens while homeschooling their kids and making clothes and keep their house clean ... do their days have more hours than mine? Not that that sounds attractvie to me, but seriously, what gives? Anyway, much of the DIY stuff intrigues me not because I strive to live off the grid of think that those folks who buy frozen veggies for dinner (thats me people!) are killing their family slowly. I just like making stuff. Always have. I sew because I like it. I cook because I like it. But I would not want these hobbies and joys to become my way of life as they do in the New Domesticity. Overall, it was a good look into this movement (if it really is a movement) but I'm glad to be done with the book.
This book was a disappointment. I'd waited anxiously for it since I discovered the author's blog, the New Domesticity (which, by the way, is much better than the book). Ms. Matchar provides a lot of interesting information, but never says "so what" until the end, which she gives a few "take-away points." Maybe it's just me, but I'd prefer to read a book for more than just four pages of take away information. My main complaints were the following:
1. The author claims that New Domesticity is primarily found in the "middle class." While I think that many people are implementing some elements of this lifestyle to cut costs and are part of the middle class, by and large, the most successful and well-known proponents are definitely upper middle class to upper class. Only a few people that she spoke to didn't have some sort of financial backing from a husband, family, or other venture. She delved into this maybe twice in the 200+ pages and I would've liked to see it more.
2. The portion on societal change was so interesting, but again, mentioned only twice in 200+ changes. It would've been a better book to me if she had interspersed this information throughout the book, rather than mentioning it in the first chapter and then in the final portion. So much of the issues in the book could be tackled with some sort of widespread change (especially a push for better public health and a single-payer health insurance program), and I felt that that wasn't covered.
3. The author never called the people in the book on their bullshit. She'd provide one side, then a few countering points, but never concluded what was "right." Sure, in many instances, there is not right or wrong answers. But without giving an opposite opinion, it seemed like she was almost afraid or uninterested in proving her subjects wrong. As a result, she never calls out the woman who claims at there is lead and arsenic in immunizations, therefore getting your children their shots is the same as child abuse.
1. The author claims that New Domesticity is primarily found in the "middle class." While I think that many people are implementing some elements of this lifestyle to cut costs and are part of the middle class, by and large, the most successful and well-known proponents are definitely upper middle class to upper class. Only a few people that she spoke to didn't have some sort of financial backing from a husband, family, or other venture. She delved into this maybe twice in the 200+ pages and I would've liked to see it more.
2. The portion on societal change was so interesting, but again, mentioned only twice in 200+ changes. It would've been a better book to me if she had interspersed this information throughout the book, rather than mentioning it in the first chapter and then in the final portion. So much of the issues in the book could be tackled with some sort of widespread change (especially a push for better public health and a single-payer health insurance program), and I felt that that wasn't covered.
3. The author never called the people in the book on their bullshit. She'd provide one side, then a few countering points, but never concluded what was "right." Sure, in many instances, there is not right or wrong answers. But without giving an opposite opinion, it seemed like she was almost afraid or uninterested in proving her subjects wrong. As a result, she never calls out the woman who claims at there is lead and arsenic in immunizations, therefore getting your children their shots is the same as child abuse.
An interesting look at the rise of domestic arts in the last decade. Combined with local food, attachment parenting,environmentalism and the idea of dropping out of the rat race. All combined into one thought process. Very intriguing, even feminist in some cases. For anyone who has embraced the culture, it makes you think about why.
back to the DNF, but this time for good. i got through the food chapter which was the main reason i checked this out again, and i just felt like this book was more talk than depth. would have been more exciting to read a long-form article on the subject.