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A review by deannamartin113
Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin
3.0
For the first 2/3 of the book I was fascinated. Mine was a library book and I even posted a picture on Facebook about needing to purchase a copy so I could underline, highlight, annotate. But, in finishing the book, I'm left with a less than "happy" feeling about it. As I look back over the quotes I copied, most of them are quotes she quoted from others.
In the end, Gretchen should just "Be Gretchen" without constantly telling others she's being herself. Duh!
I'm editing this rating and review because I'm wasn't quite fair to Gretchen. Yes, Gretchen comes from wealth and married into wealth. With this fact we must do two things in reading what she's written:
1) Be suspicious of her conclusions because she is that poor little rich girl trying to find herself.
2) Be open to the possibility that because she is that poor little rich girl trying to find herself, she may occasionally write something worthwhile to ponder.
I don't think this book changed my life, nor will I begin to follow her blog or her podcasts in which she organizes her sister's closets...again. But, I will think more about paying attention to the now of life, actively remove the happiness leeches from my life (which can include my own attitudes) and I will train my children to be functioning adults - as in making their own beds. That is the single most fascinating thing I think I found in this book, she has not taught her daughters to make their beds. She still does it for them, even the 12 year old (who is 15 now). I suppose when you don't have much in the way of normal, household management activities to complete this can give her a sense of what being a housewife is like. I think the other thing that was ironic was her assertion (many, many times) that she was an un-buyer. Of course you can be an un-buyer when you have staff to do those things for you.
As an author, she is good with words. As a researcher, she is gifted. But, instead of reading Gretchen's interpretations of what great writers and philosophers have to say, read those people yourself. Read closely. Become educated in the Great Books yourself. Then, you won't need to read someone's regurgitation.
Action point #1 for me: Read Samuel Johnson.
In the end, Gretchen should just "Be Gretchen" without constantly telling others she's being herself. Duh!
I'm editing this rating and review because I'm wasn't quite fair to Gretchen. Yes, Gretchen comes from wealth and married into wealth. With this fact we must do two things in reading what she's written:
1) Be suspicious of her conclusions because she is that poor little rich girl trying to find herself.
2) Be open to the possibility that because she is that poor little rich girl trying to find herself, she may occasionally write something worthwhile to ponder.
I don't think this book changed my life, nor will I begin to follow her blog or her podcasts in which she organizes her sister's closets...again. But, I will think more about paying attention to the now of life, actively remove the happiness leeches from my life (which can include my own attitudes) and I will train my children to be functioning adults - as in making their own beds. That is the single most fascinating thing I think I found in this book, she has not taught her daughters to make their beds. She still does it for them, even the 12 year old (who is 15 now). I suppose when you don't have much in the way of normal, household management activities to complete this can give her a sense of what being a housewife is like. I think the other thing that was ironic was her assertion (many, many times) that she was an un-buyer. Of course you can be an un-buyer when you have staff to do those things for you.
As an author, she is good with words. As a researcher, she is gifted. But, instead of reading Gretchen's interpretations of what great writers and philosophers have to say, read those people yourself. Read closely. Become educated in the Great Books yourself. Then, you won't need to read someone's regurgitation.
Action point #1 for me: Read Samuel Johnson.