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bethgiven's review against another edition
3.0
Another ultra-quick read from Anna Quindlen in the same vein as [b:A Short Guide to a Happy Life|100286|A Short Guide to a Happy Life|Anna Quindlen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522593s/100286.jpg|96695] and [b:How Reading Changed My Life|113148|How Reading Changed My Life|Anna Quindlen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320398903s/113148.jpg|3154214]. After those books I've read, I expected more from this one -- but it just didn't grab me like I thought it would (surprising, since I've definitely got some tendencies toward perfectionism!).
sofie_puzzlemaster5000's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
gschmidt05's review against another edition
5.0
This was such, such a good book. It's super short and has a lot of pictures. I encourage all my friends, all women, and all people to read this. Anyone who has ever felt the need to be perfect, whether that is about their weight, appearance, job performance, or whatever it is. And I'm certain that we've all felt that way at some point or another. Do yourself a favor, and get this from your library. You won't regret it.
dannb's review against another edition
4.0
If you tend to miss life focusing on perfectionism or just need to remember to look around, Anna gets you there...in a short, quick read.
sarahfett's review against another edition
5.0
A lovely essay complimented with black and white photography. This is one to revisit.
lizshine74's review against another edition
I love the way the photographs in this essay build up the strength of the ideas. Take for instance, the photo of women watching another woman do a perfect headstand. The longer you stare at the photo, the more you notice and begin to see the potential stories behind the image, full of envy, love, and resentment. I bought this book at Goodwill this past summer. It was strange. I read the back and felt compelled to buy it. I then felt compelled to bring it to work with me and it's been sitting on my podium for three months now. I've been feeling more stressed and anxious this past week than I've felt in a long while. Yesterday, I kept myself as busy as possible at work because if I stopped I would surely cry. Today, beginning to turn an emotional corner, while my 9th graders were busy making character charts for Hazel in the story "Gorilla, My Love", I opened it and started to read. It took me less than 20 minutes to finish it. I now know what had compelled me to buy it last July and I'm feeling awed by the way books find us sometimes at just the right time.
booksandbark's review against another edition
3.0
SECOND READ, December 2020
Reading this now that I’m finished with college at Columbia (the sibling school of Barnard, Quindlen’s alma mater), I don’t like it that much. It’s very dated. Quindlen writes for a very particular type of woman: white, upper-class, taught to be well-dressed and thin and fit and fall into traditional gender roles and the ideal of marriage. If that’s you, this book might resonate. But I have long been untraditional (non-white, single-mother household, doesn’t perform traditional gender roles) and so this book fell a little flat for me. It also fails to delve into social media culture, which I think is the ideal of perfection for most young women today. A nice message, though.
FIRST READ, November 2018
Someone gave me this book when I decided to go to college in New York City, and I neglected to read it for about two years. I'm glad I finally got around to it, though, because this book is a nice short read. Quindlen goes through some of the realizations she had while a student at Barnard College in New York City. While she doesn't quite say anything new about perfection, pressure, and young womanhood (there are plenty of articles these days which study this phenomenon), she's an eloquent writer and her work (based on her experiences from 1970 to 1974) resonates with me years later.
Reading this now that I’m finished with college at Columbia (the sibling school of Barnard, Quindlen’s alma mater), I don’t like it that much. It’s very dated. Quindlen writes for a very particular type of woman: white, upper-class, taught to be well-dressed and thin and fit and fall into traditional gender roles and the ideal of marriage. If that’s you, this book might resonate. But I have long been untraditional (non-white, single-mother household, doesn’t perform traditional gender roles) and so this book fell a little flat for me. It also fails to delve into social media culture, which I think is the ideal of perfection for most young women today. A nice message, though.
FIRST READ, November 2018
Someone gave me this book when I decided to go to college in New York City, and I neglected to read it for about two years. I'm glad I finally got around to it, though, because this book is a nice short read. Quindlen goes through some of the realizations she had while a student at Barnard College in New York City. While she doesn't quite say anything new about perfection, pressure, and young womanhood (there are plenty of articles these days which study this phenomenon), she's an eloquent writer and her work (based on her experiences from 1970 to 1974) resonates with me years later.
bibliomaineiac's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED the message of this book. Althouth I didn't really need it at this point in my life (I have already taken the longer route to get to the point this book highlights), I still loved it. Very quick read, but so worth it. Woud recommend for any young woman, struggling with who she wants to be.