enthusiasticsamantha's Reviews (11)

I got through the first half and enjoyed it enough, even with all the issues surrounding it. But I just couldn’t get into the prescriptive advice in the second half of the book. Was reading for myself from a library book, which led to this DNF, but I will likely read again later for research from a copy I will buy secondhand when prices come down so I can take notes and outline what I like and what I don’t. 

Highly, highly recommend. Well written and easy to read. At times, a bit more for neurotypicals, which accounts for my not quite perfect rating but does not preclude me from recommending it to anyone interested in an intro to revolutionary Kindness.

Truly fantastic. I already am “defiant” in a number of ways she talks about, but have never quite had the language for the some of the phenomena she discusses and it felt so affirming to better understand a lot of what I experienced on both sides of compliance and defiance. 

Please note the following is not meant to dissuade you, because I do think this is a critical read, but I want people to be prepared for it: At times, the book can be extremely hard to read as there are graphic descriptions of police brutality and sexual assault in regards to the compliance that often enables it. It’s *not* gratuitous; it’s deeply important to understanding the very real, very high stakes of complying with things. Discomfort is important - and is a theme in the book - and does not always mean we need to look away. That is the case here, so that we can be prepared to move forward with the full knowledge of what we can be party to if we don’t rethink so many things about our cultural norms around defiance, compliance and consent.

A very in-depth, well-written analysis.