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A review by thereadingwells
The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga
slow-paced
2.5
Like most philosophy/self-help/psychology books, there are bits and pieces of this one that is nice and thought-provoking, but I found this book overall quite disappointing.
Not only was the Socratic dialogue style painful to read, many of the viewpoints expressed are extremely problematic. Totally dismissing unhappiness, trauma/PTSD, and other unfortunate circumstances as simply a choice comes across as quite elitist and as borderline toxic positivity. I do agree that it's our choice how we react to our circumstances and what's thrown at us, but it seems unnecessary and out of touch to refute the existence of horrific past trauma impacting someone's present-day reality. Most folks who live with trauma can attest to it not always being a conscious choice.
I'm glad that I checked this out from the library and didn't purchase it, I'd recommend you do the same.
Not only was the Socratic dialogue style painful to read, many of the viewpoints expressed are extremely problematic. Totally dismissing unhappiness, trauma/PTSD, and other unfortunate circumstances as simply a choice comes across as quite elitist and as borderline toxic positivity. I do agree that it's our choice how we react to our circumstances and what's thrown at us, but it seems unnecessary and out of touch to refute the existence of horrific past trauma impacting someone's present-day reality. Most folks who live with trauma can attest to it not always being a conscious choice.
I'm glad that I checked this out from the library and didn't purchase it, I'd recommend you do the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism