jenswagner's reviews
445 reviews

I feel so complicated about this book. It’s beautiful and pretentious and *highly* problematic, and charming and has moments of total insight. I don’t really know how to interpret this novel that seems primarily about feminism and gender with a smattering of race written by a white man in the voice of a white woman living in Botswana. But still.

This book is so beautiful and lyrical and full of magic and wonder and pain and goodness. Nothing I can say about the plot would do it justice. Just please read this book.

4.5 stars. Beautifully illustrated emotionally open look into the author’s relationships and understanding of her parents, as she learns about their histories and experiences growing up in war torn Vietnam, and contemplates what it means to be a child and what it means to be a parent.

3.5 stars. Very readable and lots of interesting info and stuff to think about, with the substantial limitation of Pollan’s intellectual, white, privileged male point of view. At times this was uncomfortable, but it was still helpful to think about neuroplasticity and our ability to grow and chance even as we age - with or without the help of psychedelics.

Lots of the same stories from the other book of hers I read (forgetting the name, but a more recent compilation) but I loved them the first time and loved them again, as well as the new (to me) ones. The stories are raw and beautiful and complicated in a straightforward dressing.

4.5 stars. Compellingly written and meaningful insight into the broken criminal justice system from the perspective of a rape survivor. People should read this book.