Scan barcode
ojaypm's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
1.5
The books central thesis is interesting, and challenging. The application of a 'Western' (and specifically British) worldview (largely neoliberal, centrist, capitalist & superior in terms of the 'right way' to implement democracy) in modern, post-communist Poland is flawed. And this flawed perspective has helped to reduce a credible alternative to PiS, who are able to offer 'leftist' economic policies with very conservative social politics, in a paradigm that 'Western' critique can fail to penetrate in a meaningful way.
However (and this is *big* however), the book is often incredibly difficult to read. At best, large sections simply become berating, at worst it is completely incoherent. Add in incredibly poor proofing to the general disdain the author seems to have for readers (or at least, any reader not holding a PhD in Polish political history), and the result is a book that seems designed to get you to give up.
I'm not convinced the weight of the premise is enough to carry the book through its whole length, and the author misses a few opportunities to genuinely enlighten us as to why journalists may be writing in this way. The author does also, in my opinion, fall into a trap acknowledged at the beginning of the book as a risk: namely, essentially becoming a repetitive churn of 'whatabout-ery' and near-defence of PiS in all their homophobic, misogynist and anti-semitic guises.
Several good quotes and questions that did actually teach me something (or at least made me re-evaluate a line of thinking) result in the score ... I care for the book as little as it seems to care about me. Really, the proofing is so bad!
However (and this is *big* however), the book is often incredibly difficult to read. At best, large sections simply become berating, at worst it is completely incoherent. Add in incredibly poor proofing to the general disdain the author seems to have for readers (or at least, any reader not holding a PhD in Polish political history), and the result is a book that seems designed to get you to give up.
I'm not convinced the weight of the premise is enough to carry the book through its whole length, and the author misses a few opportunities to genuinely enlighten us as to why journalists may be writing in this way. The author does also, in my opinion, fall into a trap acknowledged at the beginning of the book as a risk: namely, essentially becoming a repetitive churn of 'whatabout-ery' and near-defence of PiS in all their homophobic, misogynist and anti-semitic guises.
Several good quotes and questions that did actually teach me something (or at least made me re-evaluate a line of thinking) result in the score ... I care for the book as little as it seems to care about me. Really, the proofing is so bad!
More...