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jthunderrr's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t think I’m the target audience/generation for this collection. I also haven’t read any of the author’s other works. I wasn’t a fan of the use of dictionary definitions of words as anchor points for many of the essays. I thought it was a telling choice to impress upon the reader how well-read the author is, but then to continue to use classic (white) Western thinkers as frameworks for analysis. I do enjoy a good meandering essay, but the author fails to stick the landing on a lot of these.
lunablch's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
I loved some of these essays but the last few weren't very interesting to me
fraunilsson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
erinphillips613's review against another edition
4.0
This review was published in the May 2022 issue of the Erie Reader:
Siri Hustvedt has published fifteen books, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction and essays, as well as multiple translations. She has had four books published about her. Her viewpoint is a kind of feminist philosophy meets literary/art criticism. Her latest collection, Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays was my first experience reading her and it was a very good impression.
I checked out a copy of this book from the library and, soon after starting it, I realized I would need to buy a copy of my own. There were so many passages that I wanted to underline, to remember forever. There are parts of this book that are so well stated; I would read one sentence, set the book down, and just think on that sentence for a while.
The book begins with autobiographical accounts from her own family, her parents and their relationships with their parents, her Norwegian lineage and the inherent misogyny of genealogy. It is her essay on motherhood that rang particularly true for me. She discusses her own experience with motherhood in a refreshingly honest way: “My experience with my daughter is my own–it is not intended to stand in for universal motherhood. That may be the crux of the matter. Motherhood has been and is drowned in so much sentimental nonsense with so many punitive rules for how to act and feel that it remains a cultural straightjacket, even today. The metaphor is highly conscious.”
She writes about her grandmother’s experience of living in Nazi occupied Norway, she writes about her mother’s death, she writes about her early pandemic experiences. As the book goes on, I find myself feeling the urge to underline less, however my engagement does not wane. She moves from autobiography into her thoughts on literature and provides analytical essays on topics like translation, particularly of poetry, as well as several critical essays, presenting new ways of reading several classics like Sinbad the Sailor (from a book I haven’t read, but her brilliant take on the seven stories of Sinbad made me add it to my list), Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights (which has inspired me to reread that book for the 4th time) and Austen’s Persuasion. She tackles art, misogyny, and also includes an analysis of a brutal true crime that examines the psychological science of group-think, guilt, and shame. Every essay is written through the lens of feminism and current politics, embuing it all with a sense of perspective and relevancy.
As I said, this is my first foray into Hustvedt’s writing, but it is most certainly not my last. Her voice is unique while somehow remaining universal, bold, honest, and fiercely and unapologetically intelligent.
Siri Hustvedt has published fifteen books, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction and essays, as well as multiple translations. She has had four books published about her. Her viewpoint is a kind of feminist philosophy meets literary/art criticism. Her latest collection, Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays was my first experience reading her and it was a very good impression.
I checked out a copy of this book from the library and, soon after starting it, I realized I would need to buy a copy of my own. There were so many passages that I wanted to underline, to remember forever. There are parts of this book that are so well stated; I would read one sentence, set the book down, and just think on that sentence for a while.
The book begins with autobiographical accounts from her own family, her parents and their relationships with their parents, her Norwegian lineage and the inherent misogyny of genealogy. It is her essay on motherhood that rang particularly true for me. She discusses her own experience with motherhood in a refreshingly honest way: “My experience with my daughter is my own–it is not intended to stand in for universal motherhood. That may be the crux of the matter. Motherhood has been and is drowned in so much sentimental nonsense with so many punitive rules for how to act and feel that it remains a cultural straightjacket, even today. The metaphor is highly conscious.”
She writes about her grandmother’s experience of living in Nazi occupied Norway, she writes about her mother’s death, she writes about her early pandemic experiences. As the book goes on, I find myself feeling the urge to underline less, however my engagement does not wane. She moves from autobiography into her thoughts on literature and provides analytical essays on topics like translation, particularly of poetry, as well as several critical essays, presenting new ways of reading several classics like Sinbad the Sailor (from a book I haven’t read, but her brilliant take on the seven stories of Sinbad made me add it to my list), Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights (which has inspired me to reread that book for the 4th time) and Austen’s Persuasion. She tackles art, misogyny, and also includes an analysis of a brutal true crime that examines the psychological science of group-think, guilt, and shame. Every essay is written through the lens of feminism and current politics, embuing it all with a sense of perspective and relevancy.
As I said, this is my first foray into Hustvedt’s writing, but it is most certainly not my last. Her voice is unique while somehow remaining universal, bold, honest, and fiercely and unapologetically intelligent.
noel_rene_cisneros's review against another edition
4.0
Siri en estos ensayos hace un recorrido por la historia de su familia, rescata de él a su abuela paterna, su relación con su padre, sobre la paternidad reflexiona sobre el arte, la capacidad humana de contar historias y cómo eso marca nuestro pensamiento. Reflexivos, pero no por ello dejan de ser emotivos. Ensayos que me hubiera gustado escribir.