sungyena's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
clhorstmann's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.0
This book was an interesting commentary on the one percent in America, and did little to endear me to this group. It spent a lot of time going into detail about the privileges the author enjoyed from a young age, but I couldn’t really tell what the book’s purpose was beyond that. It seemed as though he was trying to present himself as a reformed one-percenter that is critical of the experiences he’d had at his elite schools. However, it never really got to that and came across as more a collection of stories about his past. I hoped that McDonell would draw some kind of conclusion from the interviews with his classmates that were included, but they were just kind of out there and left.
Overall, I thought that it was interesting to get a look into the experiences of this elite group, but I wish there had been a bit more depth to the story.
Overall, I thought that it was interesting to get a look into the experiences of this elite group, but I wish there had been a bit more depth to the story.
crum_93's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.75
Thank you for the ARC I received from Knopf Books through a giveaway on goodreads.
While I don’t know what I expected, I’m not sure this is it. I appreciated the approach to telling the stories of the author and his friends/classmates growing up, but in many ways it felt really sympathetic. Yes, it was pretty direct in calling out the nepotism and cyclical power dynamic of the 1%, but we also got a lot of explanation and shoulder shrugging. What if YOU as an insider, author, were to be more confrontational? Yes, you needed to play nicely to have the conversation but I feel like a more direct and possibly abrasive hand might actually get a point across to your 1% colleagues. As a non-member of this group, this simply made me more angry at them as a whole, which I previously did not think was possible.
All that to say, this author is a good writer. I like his voice and how equitably it seemed he tried to approach this topic. My distance from and predisposition to anger at this community is not the author’s fault, but given the proximity he has to them and privilege he has, I would like to see a more “calling out” than “inviting in” analysis of the situation.
While I don’t know what I expected, I’m not sure this is it. I appreciated the approach to telling the stories of the author and his friends/classmates growing up, but in many ways it felt really sympathetic. Yes, it was pretty direct in calling out the nepotism and cyclical power dynamic of the 1%, but we also got a lot of explanation and shoulder shrugging. What if YOU as an insider, author, were to be more confrontational? Yes, you needed to play nicely to have the conversation but I feel like a more direct and possibly abrasive hand might actually get a point across to your 1% colleagues. As a non-member of this group, this simply made me more angry at them as a whole, which I previously did not think was possible.
All that to say, this author is a good writer. I like his voice and how equitably it seemed he tried to approach this topic. My distance from and predisposition to anger at this community is not the author’s fault, but given the proximity he has to them and privilege he has, I would like to see a more “calling out” than “inviting in” analysis of the situation.
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