milliecorkery's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I think clearly very important and influential but at times felt repetitive; unsure how much there actually is to say and at points that felt like there was a new consideration, then abruptly shifted again.
chlopiecy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
omw's review against another edition
4.75
yeah i mean. pretty good pretty good pretty neat pretty neat.
fjcookie's review
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.75
absolutely fascinating and very useful for my dissertation
simlish's review
5.0
I reread Illness as Metaphor before moving on to AIDS and Its Metaphors, and that was the right choice, since AIDS and Its Metaphors builds so much off of Illness as Metaphor, and begins by addressing Sontag's changes in thinking since Illness as Metaphor. AIDS and Its Metaphors is a bit more wide-ranging than Illness, which kept a fairly narrow focus on tuberculosis and cancer. AIDS and Its Metaphors gets more into what pre-disposes a disease to be used metaphorically, and the difference between an epidemic and a plague.
Reading it during an epidemic added a little bit of extra something -- COVID is referred to almost exclusively as an epidemic, except by people who are being racist, which felt very illustrative of what Sontag meant. My only thing is that I would have liked a little bit more about AIDS specifically, but it was written earlier in the AIDS outbreak, so I guess there wasn't as much to dig into, in the ways people talk about AIDS.
Reading it during an epidemic added a little bit of extra something -- COVID is referred to almost exclusively as an epidemic, except by people who are being racist, which felt very illustrative of what Sontag meant. My only thing is that I would have liked a little bit more about AIDS specifically, but it was written earlier in the AIDS outbreak, so I guess there wasn't as much to dig into, in the ways people talk about AIDS.
callofthelibrary's review against another edition
2.25
oh to be a 20th century theology, unbeholden to sources, just saying shit and sourcing a play from 1886 as evidence.
also, with every important or salient point about illness Sontag gives, she presents another which makes me roll my eyes and scoff loudly. anyway may ur distaste for military metaphors rot in hell Sontag! people with aids under attack, what do we do? fight aids fight back!
also, with every important or salient point about illness Sontag gives, she presents another which makes me roll my eyes and scoff loudly. anyway may ur distaste for military metaphors rot in hell Sontag! people with aids under attack, what do we do? fight aids fight back!