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sadiejayne3426's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
asher__s's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
Avery Gordon cracks sociology open to phantoms. She's trained as a Marxist sociologist, but finds that social life is wilder and weirder than strict materialist explanations of domination and resistance would have it. She looks at psychoanalysis for broader explanations, and finds it is hyper-individualist, unable to acknowledge the weight of society on the psyche, which makes it reduce hauntings into disordered upflarings of an individual unconscious.
I found her writing compelling and often beautiful, especially her chapters on disappearance in Argentina and Toni Morrison's Beloved.
But also her writing is so thorny. I would ask her: do you not want to be understood? Are you worried that if we understand you, we will think you're unoriginal? I respect that Gordon is pushing back against a dry, divisive rationality that tries to rewrite the ghost into an explanation. But I think there is a difference between a wild lyricism that remains slippery to meaning, and cluttered jargon-blocks of vagueness. Sometimes Gordon achieves the first, but too often I found the second. Maybe I've just been out of school too long.
I found her writing compelling and often beautiful, especially her chapters on disappearance in Argentina and Toni Morrison's Beloved.
But also her writing is so thorny. I would ask her: do you not want to be understood? Are you worried that if we understand you, we will think you're unoriginal? I respect that Gordon is pushing back against a dry, divisive rationality that tries to rewrite the ghost into an explanation. But I think there is a difference between a wild lyricism that remains slippery to meaning, and cluttered jargon-blocks of vagueness. Sometimes Gordon achieves the first, but too often I found the second. Maybe I've just been out of school too long.
lostkatrinemarie's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
averyfranken's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
drkew's review against another edition
5.0
As a historian who researches the aftermaths of racial atrocity, I found Gordon’s book to be insightful and incredibly helpful. Great read for people who wonder about the afterlives of horrific violence and representations of it.
j0rdan0fjupit3r's review against another edition
5.0
So compelling and interesting!! I especially liked Gordon's perspectives on lesser known historical events like the dark sides of early psychotherapy, or Argentinian disappearances. Unique and worth a reread!