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A review by reggiewoods
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Anti-Capitalist and Climate Crises writer Naomi Klein often gets mistaken for Naomi Wolf, a feminist writer turned conspiracy theorist and far right darling commentator. This coincidence leads Klein to investigate not just her and Wolf’s differences, but how someone that was once a voice of liberalism and feminist rights could become bosom buddies with Steve Bannon. She explores the history of vaccinations and the anti-vax movement(s), shares her personal experience of raising an autistic child providing insightful dialogue on how repulsive the conspiracy surrounding people with autism is. She looks at the doubling that we see in everyday life, examines the history of doppelgängers in literature and entertainment, and how our current capitalist system perpetuates doppelgängers in every facet of life as a binary struggle to continue to sell more products. Her introspective is not just comparing herself to the other Naomi, but her unrecognized doppelgängers: her public persona, her personal brand, versus her private self (an irony she readily admits as her fame was built upon writing against corporate branding). Ultimately, this is a thought provoking and sobering analysis of culture in 2023, one that has many faults, most of which will get worse until we move beyond capitalism. A fantastic read that I highly recommend.