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A review by readswithcocktails
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell
3.5
Thinking of the chapters as individual essays, they're pretty good. However, the book failed to come together into a cohesive text for me.
I think Montell is very smart and very good at explaining things in a relatable way. However, I don't think she always manages to walk the fine line between irreverent/relatable and snarky/dismissive all the time. Some of her chapter or anecdotes feel more like the the latter. I've also noticed, having read all three of her books, she tends to make sweeping, borderline controversial statements in her introduction, only to explain them with more nuance later on. Which, i suppose is a valid rhetorical device. Except when it could be construed as you punching down (see her "cutting people off in the name of 'boundaries'" line in this book and her weird mention of eating disorders/over exercising in cultish)
Overall, I'd call this underwhelming as a whole, but generally enjoyable as individual chapters/essays
I think Montell is very smart and very good at explaining things in a relatable way. However, I don't think she always manages to walk the fine line between irreverent/relatable and snarky/dismissive all the time. Some of her chapter or anecdotes feel more like the the latter. I've also noticed, having read all three of her books, she tends to make sweeping, borderline controversial statements in her introduction, only to explain them with more nuance later on. Which, i suppose is a valid rhetorical device. Except when it could be construed as you punching down (see her "cutting people off in the name of 'boundaries'" line in this book and her weird mention of eating disorders/over exercising in cultish)
Overall, I'd call this underwhelming as a whole, but generally enjoyable as individual chapters/essays