I’m a big fan of Ehrenreich. I like her reportage, and her
social experiments, and her writing style.
But I heard that this book was a little different, I thought
I’d let it slide until I was personally recommended the book by Tim Noah
(Author of the “Great Divergence,” check it out). He liked it and I liked his
stuff, so I thought I would check it out.
I think my first instinct was right. This wasn’t for me. It
is basically what I would call an intellectual biography, detailing the
development of a bookish child. I can relate to that.
But there’s the thing that was emphasized. Ehrenrich is on
my team, cheering for the big A, or so I thought. Here she details some sort of
mystical experience she had when she was a teen and the life-long ramifications
and search for just what happened to her (the world caught fire in a way that
fire doesn’t burn – with spirit). For me, that part isn’t that interesting. I
remember thinking that she should have just looked up her William James and moved
on.
She didn’t look up William James – until later. I don’t
know. This thing just left me cold, and it felt unresolved. I kept creeping
towards the last pages, and the answer to how she defined what happened was
left in the air (unless I missed it, which is possible but doesn’t say much for
your climax as an author). I can’t really recommend it. I don’t know who’d be
interested in it.
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