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lizard800's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This book put into words for me so much about how I've been feeling about the left and social movements. If you're a leftist of any flavour you really need to read this. I'm taking away a lot from this book, but this quote (which is my favourite) sums up my biggest takeaway: "every story of triumph for the fascist right is also a story of fragmentation, sectarianism, and stubborn refusal to make strategic alliances on the anti-fascist left".
Klein is an excellent narrator.
Klein is an excellent narrator.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
milkfran's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This was a book I couldn’t read without a pen in my hand to frantically underline every other word. I will be recommending this to everyone else I know who is also feeling similarly adrift in the bleak Mirror World of our times.
A bit of context: I was (and am, recent political forays aside) a huge fan of Radiohead and picked up a second-hand copy of No Logo as a teenager to try and seem cool after reading an interview with Thom Yorke around the time they were recording Kid A saying he was reading it on their tour bus. It left me depressed for weeks but also quietly radicalised me to the extent that in the guff of my UCAS personal statement I wrote about how much Naomi Klein and George Orwell between them had made me pick a politics & history degree. I’m not sure how useful 5 years and £81k of debt to do the aforementioned degree was but reading Naomi Klein is never a waste.
I was slightly apprehensive when I initially picked Doppelgänger up because I’ll admit to not being that interested in Naomi Wolf’s wild ramblings but although Good!Naomi does discuss Bad!Naomi in detail
(“if the Naomi be Klein
you’re doing just fine
If the Naomi be Wolf
Oh, buddy. Ooooof.”
@MarkPopham, via Twitter)
Wolf’s descent through the looking glass is more of a narrative scaffold to hang Klein’s depressingly prescient thoughts on our current predicament/ the culture wars/ the disinformation pandemic/ late stage capitalism’s final dying wheeze/- whatever you want to call it- on.
On p.322, she sums it up in her own words, describing the book as being about “The self as a perfect brand, the self as digital avatar, the self as data mine, the self as idealized body, the self as racist and anti-Semitic projection, the child as mirror of the self, the self as eternal victim.”
I winced a little when the first mention of the pandemic came up (there seems to have been a collective forgetting about it all for many of us?) but reading her analysis of all the madness was a cathartic debrief about it all that I didn’t know I needed.
As well as this, the bits criticising Israel from a Jewish perspective were even more powerful in light of the fact they were written before the repercussions for the October 7th attacks and indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians.
The only weak spot of the book for me was Chapter 10, ‘the anti-vax prequel’. Obviously the online discourse about autism and Autism Moms is fertile ground to harvest for a book about disinformation, and reading Naomi’s honest unfiltered thoughts on her son’s diagnosis felt raw and honest, some of it made me a little uncomfortable. It also felt the least fleshed out of all the chapters, perhaps because it was the most personal of them all and understandably difficult for the author to step back and gain some objectivity and distance.
However, in the extremely unlikely event that Naomi Klein is reading this though, can I kindly say that the call is coming from inside the house and your son’s autism did not come from nowhere… certainly not from the parent who is a high-flying academic and self described ‘seeker of justice’… who discussed the eating disorder she had as a teen… and the one who says “‘pattern recognition’ is often how I describe the work of my life” on p.226.
All of the glowing 5 star reviews on the blurb are accurate but whether the people in power or people we’ve lost to the mirror world will actually read it remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I’ll keep recommending it to anyone who’ll listen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Eating disorder
turidt's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Murder
ivvtheral's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but often get the feelings right ... The word for the system driving those feelings starts with c, but if no one ever taught you how capitalism works, and instead told you it was all about freedom and sunshine and Big Macs and playing. y the rules to get the life you deserve, then its easy to see how you might confuse it with another c-word: conspiracy.
Naomi Klein (not Wolf) and her trip into the Mirror World proved to be a surprisingly light-hearted read for a topic so serious, and by its very nature, dark. This is something I picked up on a whim, having recognised her name from the much-worn copy of No Logo I'd inherited from some random, Little Free Library that I haven't visited in years. I expected little, and I received a lot.
Klein put into words a lot of the feelings I myself have had since I first began paying attention to brief mentions of a mysterious illness in late 2019. It was nice to see my thoughts, my feelings, and my utter hopelessness at the (seemingly) sudden change in western society that has cost lives and relationships, and to see it in a way that was clear, precise, and not altogether hopeless.
Contemplating capitalism and conspiracy, and their innate relationship, Klein tracks her own veritable doppelgängers descent into something other than reality; a path many have set out on since the first lockdowns of 2020. This path many took was ridiculed. Worse, those that led others down the path were seemingly immune to reason, to logic.
Impunity can drive a person mad. Maybe it can drive a whole society mad.
I needed to read this, I think, to find perspective, and to feel less alone. I think there's a lot of people who need to read this so as to reframe a lot of their feelings and confusion and general shrugging in the face of absurdism. It helps. And, it gives hope.
All of this destabilisation places demands on us: to change, to reassess, and to reimagine who we need to become.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Ableism
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This was such a fascinating read and not what I was expecting (I don't read premises, so idk what I was expecting actually....).
I am a tiny bookstagrammer who shares a username with other "bookish millennial"s whose "brands" are much different than mine; they focus on SJM, Fourth Wing, etc. while I ..... do not - no shade, we are just different! I found the premise of this so relatable and compelling. I'm no one, but Naomi Klein's career and brand is deeply impacted by having this author doppelganger. Absolutely wild.
I also heavily related to this because I too, have lost loved ones to the "mirrorworld," who dove deep into the covid, 5G, and other endless political conspiracies that have spread like wildfire since the pandemic shutdown in 2020. It's painful, exhausting, and leaves you in a bit of despair wondering why they can't be pulled back from the dudebro podcasts or vile Trump camp. I appreciated that Klein weaved in so much context about how these ran rampant and gained such strong traction, because it ironically made me feel less alone in my own grief of the people I love changing right in front of me.
The way we think about our online selves, and how performative activism has become a thing was something that I think anyone on Instagram or who is perpetually online can feel connected to. It is something I ruminate about often, as I believe to be seen is to be loved. However, to be perceived incorrectly (sometimes poeple really do intentionally misunderstand you) is viscerally painful and sometimes infuriating. And in other times, you don't want to be perceived at all. This cultural zeitgeist is such a mindfuck sometimes.
I don't particularly think there was anything absolutely novel in this, and though it could feel dense at times, I am really glad I read it and felt really comforted that it's something we are all navigating (to different extents) in this "brave new world" lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Rape, Violence, and War
uranaishi's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation
dmlb's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Every chapter something to drop your jaw at, could be a historical reference of our times one day
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Antisemitism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
bookshelfmystic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Doppelganger is...hard to explain.
It's a book about doubles, in the literal sense and in myriad metaphorical ways. This is the uniting theme across the broad sociopolitical landscape Klein writes about, from QAnon to wellness influencers (and the surprising alliances between them found in the "diagonalist" movement). The framing concept is the author's persistent confusion with Naomi Wolf, and through exploring this uncanny doppelganger she's found herself saddled with, she dives into the rabbit hole of what she calls the Mirror World.
I'm not going to do her arguments justice by explaining them further here, but I found a lot of value in Klein's exploration of the motivations of Steve Bannon and his ilk, the pitfalls of the modern internet left and social justice movements, internet privacy, the history of Nazism and antisemitism, Zionism, diagonalism, and more.
Having read This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate several years ago, I already trust that Klein knows what she's talking about, and her careful excavation of the cause and effect of so many destabilizing cultural forces in Doppelganger adds to her leftist cred. I really appreciated her well-argued, non-performative writing--she knows her stuff, has spent decades living it and writing about it, and doesn't come off as preachy. In my notes I said this book feels like "coming home to the left". It's such a refreshing change from most of the internet discourse you get about these topics.
I think the biggest aha moment for me was Klein's differentiation between understanding the forces that cause social issues vs. conspiracy theories blaming some super-powerful bad actor. Incentive structures in capitalism (e.g.) cause all sorts of social ills, but it's easy to see these effects and blame them on some evil intelligent force instead. Again, I'm not going to do her argument justice, but this point is a really powerful one.
Doppelganger is not a light read, but it's well worth it. I'm glad I finished it now, while I'm pregnant, instead of trying to listen to it while taking care of a newborn. I don't think that would have worked too well. It deserves the time spent chewing on its contents.
It's a book about doubles, in the literal sense and in myriad metaphorical ways. This is the uniting theme across the broad sociopolitical landscape Klein writes about, from QAnon to wellness influencers (and the surprising alliances between them found in the "diagonalist" movement). The framing concept is the author's persistent confusion with Naomi Wolf, and through exploring this uncanny doppelganger she's found herself saddled with, she dives into the rabbit hole of what she calls the Mirror World.
I'm not going to do her arguments justice by explaining them further here, but I found a lot of value in Klein's exploration of the motivations of Steve Bannon and his ilk, the pitfalls of the modern internet left and social justice movements, internet privacy, the history of Nazism and antisemitism, Zionism, diagonalism, and more.
Having read This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate several years ago, I already trust that Klein knows what she's talking about, and her careful excavation of the cause and effect of so many destabilizing cultural forces in Doppelganger adds to her leftist cred. I really appreciated her well-argued, non-performative writing--she knows her stuff, has spent decades living it and writing about it, and doesn't come off as preachy. In my notes I said this book feels like "coming home to the left". It's such a refreshing change from most of the internet discourse you get about these topics.
I think the biggest aha moment for me was Klein's differentiation between understanding the forces that cause social issues vs. conspiracy theories blaming some super-powerful bad actor. Incentive structures in capitalism (e.g.) cause all sorts of social ills, but it's easy to see these effects and blame them on some evil intelligent force instead. Again, I'm not going to do her argument justice, but this point is a really powerful one.
Doppelganger is not a light read, but it's well worth it. I'm glad I finished it now, while I'm pregnant, instead of trying to listen to it while taking care of a newborn. I don't think that would have worked too well. It deserves the time spent chewing on its contents.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Antisemitism
peckreadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
katharina90's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
An interesting read that's particularly strong in its last few chapters where Naomi Klein illustrates the violent bigotry and genocidal tendencies inherent to Europe and its colonial projects.
The book is well written, covers a lot of ground and offers much food for thought.
Trying to tie all of these topics back to the doppelganger motif at times feels like a stretch? I definitely lost the thread a few times but was captivated by Klein's meandering narrative nonetheless.
The book is well written, covers a lot of ground and offers much food for thought.
Trying to tie all of these topics back to the doppelganger motif at times feels like a stretch? I definitely lost the thread a few times but was captivated by Klein's meandering narrative nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Dementia and War