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notghosts's review against another edition
3.5
Some essays - the first, the last, the essay on Morgellons - were very good. Some captured interesting topics e.g the Barkley marathons or the West Memphis three but there were quite a few duds in the middle. The essay on sweetness and sentimentality stands out for being practically senseless and incoherent and I found myself unconvinced by her rhetorical devices jn the last essay, though it had its moments.
krisandthesea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
joeykills's review against another edition
1.0
you know the “empaths” on tiktok? its her, shes patient zero.
dnf at 45% but it was such a horrible experience that im considering it a read
dnf at 45% but it was such a horrible experience that im considering it a read
cifose's review against another edition
3.0
"Sure, some news is bigger news than other news. War is bigger news than a girl having mixed feelings about the way some guy fucked her and didn't call. But I don't believe in a finite economy of empathy."
emreads97's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
2.0
wrighkl1's review against another edition
1.0
The author throughout the book tries to empathize with pain that other around her experience. Through her empathy, she also wants to experience the attention associated with their experience to fully embrace and understand. While it’s commendable to want to develop this full understanding to be empathetic, it comes across as self-aggrandizing. The author frequently takes someone else’s experience to show that she too has suffered, but her suffering does not translate into the way she is trying with comparisons of cancer to a scraped knee. This book seems very much attached to a privileged, white female experience and perspective of empathy, that as a white female, I’m sure I cannot relate. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it was difficult because I might have expected too much from the author. The way she mentions attending Harvard almost flippantly, but as if you should notice and be impressed is too egotistical. As well as her constant need to center someone else’s pain in reference to her own. Sometimes, it’s okay to just acknowledge another’s trials without bringing yourself into it. Overall, the book seems narcissistic and self-serving rather than enlarging the scope of empathy.
wicked_sassy's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read. Some essays were intriguing (the one on Morgellons comes to mind) and others stretched the idea of empathy into meandering self-absorption. Unfortunately, every time the author compared herself to essayists whose work I have enjoyed (Susan Sontag and Caroline Knapp come to mind), her own writing suffered by comparison.
mermaidhaze's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
The last essay is the best one
jcoker10's review against another edition
4.0
A few slow essays in the middle, but punctuated consistently with heart, insight, and spectacular prose. Absolutely worth a read.