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A review by panda_incognito
Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-Free Life by Francine Jay
1.0
I decided to live a simple, serene, and stress-free life by lightly skimming this book instead of reading the whole thing. This manual to minimalist living is derivative, presumptive, and annoying, and I only made it to the end because I wanted to write a fully informed negative review about it.
The first half of this book shares the same kind of decluttering advice that I have already read elsewhere, and none of it is a sufficient improvement on the author's other writings to justify its publication. Also, the author presumes an upper middle-class female readership, constantly referring to "you" while assuming that you work a white-collar job that requires dressy professional attire, have at least one child, can feasibly live more lightly on the earth by biking everywhere you can instead of driving, and have a functional and locally based family that you can borrow things from. People who fit this description may love this book, but the author makes no effort to acknowledge or include people who have different life situations or come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and regions.
She also neglects to bridge the gender gap. Granted, this book's cover is designed to appeal to a female audience, but enough men read books about decluttering that she should have made a greater effort to include them. She very rarely directs any suggestions to men, and assumes that the "you" she is speaking to wears dresses, has large collections of shoes and handbags, and mothers children.
Also, speaking of mothers! In the section on meditation, she acknowledges that developing a meditative practice can be challenging because "99% of our lives is spent surrounded by children, coworkers, ringing phones, and myriad other demands." Really? Some people reading this are seventeen. Some are seventy. Some miss spending that much time around their children, because their kids are growing up and moving on. Even though she mentions a professional context, she communicates the expectation that all of her readers are busy with both work and child-rearing. I got very tired of her reassuring the reader that she understands their situation while assuming what it is.
The second half of this book espouses ideas for how to live lightly in other areas of life and save the planet. Some of this is good advice which is easily applied. However, she gushes about how this will transform your life without understanding that some people are too busy trying to survive to organize their entire lives around eco-friendly practices. Also, as I previously mentioned, not everyone lives in a geographic area where it is remotely feasible for them to limit driving time. She makes her suggestions with a positive spin, not in a judgmental way, but many of her recommendations are delusional for anyone living with a strapped budget, major time demands, chronic illness, or other life situations that don't factor into her privileged view.
Also, she presumes that "living lightly" is a spiritual path, telling her readers that they can attain happiness, peace, and sacred communion through following her advice. No, thanks. This book isn't just about how to prune out your closets, reclaim time, or limit your carbon footprint. It's about the author's worldview, and even though her imagined readership of middle-class working mothers might find her idea of living lightly appealing, she presents her lifestyle preferences as the answer to the world's problems and the panacea for our souls. I am not impressed.
Her attempts to connect her beliefs with major religions also rubbed me the wrong way, because she highlights the elements that support her views without making any effort to understand these belief systems on their own terms. For example, even though she adequately summarizes Jesus's teachings against materialism, the Adam and Eve story is not, in fact, about how the desire for possessions represents a break with paradise.
Another element that grated on me was the constant message that happiness comes from giving up attachments to things, ideas, and practices, and floating through life in a way that accepts everything and commits to nothing. Yes, attachments do bring grief, but that doesn't mean that they are never worthwhile. You cannot escape pain without giving up the opportunity to experience love and joy. If you could be passive and shrug your shoulders if your house burned down, that might make it easier for you to move on, but being that unattached to your surroundings means that you aren't deriving deep joy from them, either. Similarly, even though it is important for people to be flexible and not build their whole identities out of their ideological commitments, the idea that you should float from idea to idea in a paradise of open-mindedness means that you also don't love, aren't grounded in, and can't derive deep joy from what you believe to be true, good, and worth fighting for.
I know that I am overthinking this book, but I found it presumptive, offensive, and misguided at every turn. It's a good thing that I live lightly by borrowing books from the library, because it would have been a disastrous waste for me to have spent even a dollar on this tripe.
The first half of this book shares the same kind of decluttering advice that I have already read elsewhere, and none of it is a sufficient improvement on the author's other writings to justify its publication. Also, the author presumes an upper middle-class female readership, constantly referring to "you" while assuming that you work a white-collar job that requires dressy professional attire, have at least one child, can feasibly live more lightly on the earth by biking everywhere you can instead of driving, and have a functional and locally based family that you can borrow things from. People who fit this description may love this book, but the author makes no effort to acknowledge or include people who have different life situations or come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and regions.
She also neglects to bridge the gender gap. Granted, this book's cover is designed to appeal to a female audience, but enough men read books about decluttering that she should have made a greater effort to include them. She very rarely directs any suggestions to men, and assumes that the "you" she is speaking to wears dresses, has large collections of shoes and handbags, and mothers children.
Also, speaking of mothers! In the section on meditation, she acknowledges that developing a meditative practice can be challenging because "99% of our lives is spent surrounded by children, coworkers, ringing phones, and myriad other demands." Really? Some people reading this are seventeen. Some are seventy. Some miss spending that much time around their children, because their kids are growing up and moving on. Even though she mentions a professional context, she communicates the expectation that all of her readers are busy with both work and child-rearing. I got very tired of her reassuring the reader that she understands their situation while assuming what it is.
The second half of this book espouses ideas for how to live lightly in other areas of life and save the planet. Some of this is good advice which is easily applied. However, she gushes about how this will transform your life without understanding that some people are too busy trying to survive to organize their entire lives around eco-friendly practices. Also, as I previously mentioned, not everyone lives in a geographic area where it is remotely feasible for them to limit driving time. She makes her suggestions with a positive spin, not in a judgmental way, but many of her recommendations are delusional for anyone living with a strapped budget, major time demands, chronic illness, or other life situations that don't factor into her privileged view.
Also, she presumes that "living lightly" is a spiritual path, telling her readers that they can attain happiness, peace, and sacred communion through following her advice. No, thanks. This book isn't just about how to prune out your closets, reclaim time, or limit your carbon footprint. It's about the author's worldview, and even though her imagined readership of middle-class working mothers might find her idea of living lightly appealing, she presents her lifestyle preferences as the answer to the world's problems and the panacea for our souls. I am not impressed.
Her attempts to connect her beliefs with major religions also rubbed me the wrong way, because she highlights the elements that support her views without making any effort to understand these belief systems on their own terms. For example, even though she adequately summarizes Jesus's teachings against materialism, the Adam and Eve story is not, in fact, about how the desire for possessions represents a break with paradise.
Another element that grated on me was the constant message that happiness comes from giving up attachments to things, ideas, and practices, and floating through life in a way that accepts everything and commits to nothing. Yes, attachments do bring grief, but that doesn't mean that they are never worthwhile. You cannot escape pain without giving up the opportunity to experience love and joy. If you could be passive and shrug your shoulders if your house burned down, that might make it easier for you to move on, but being that unattached to your surroundings means that you aren't deriving deep joy from them, either. Similarly, even though it is important for people to be flexible and not build their whole identities out of their ideological commitments, the idea that you should float from idea to idea in a paradise of open-mindedness means that you also don't love, aren't grounded in, and can't derive deep joy from what you believe to be true, good, and worth fighting for.
I know that I am overthinking this book, but I found it presumptive, offensive, and misguided at every turn. It's a good thing that I live lightly by borrowing books from the library, because it would have been a disastrous waste for me to have spent even a dollar on this tripe.