The F-Word Book Reviews?
- At March 27, 2019
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Rox Reads, Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Do you read book reviews? I do. That and word-of-mouth is how I find some of my favourite new reads. There’s a book on sale in Kindle-land today called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. Have you read it? As soon as I saw it was available for $2.99, I checked it out. #1 New York Times bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold. I was about to one-click. Then I read some reviews.
In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “F**k positivity,” Mark Manson says. “Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it.” In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—”not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.” Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
I agree with all of this and I’ve got no particular hangup about the F-word. Unfortunately, I’m 55, the tail end of the baby boomer generation and have absolutely not got a millenial mindset. The vagueness and lack of research citations mentioned in numerous reviews would be problematic for me. I can rarely recall hard substantiating data when expounding my own wisdom, but I do require it when paying to hear someone else expound theirs. Mark Manson might have enough wind to flap a flag, but he’s not fanning the flame of my interest.
What do you think?
More “Some Days You Shouldn’t Talk”
- At June 24, 2013
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 2
So, Pik is having a bad day. You know the kind. (In the words of Nicole Kidman’s dead soldier-husband in The Others, “Sometimes I bleed…”) And my Pik is not one to suffer in silence. I don’t know where that comes from. Must be her dad’s side. Anyway, this morning, she’s moaning about the various hardships in her life.
Pik: “I can’t predict the weather! Too hot for pants. Too cold for shorts.”
Me: “How about capris?” I’m very helpful that way.
“I’m too bloated!” she wailed. “I can’t get into them!!”
I’m feeling a touch smug, reveling in the crone-zone, glad to be done with that business. But still sympathetic, of course. Of course!
“Plus,” she added, “I’m out of my favorite tampons! Now I have to use the gross cardboard kind!”
Me: “Please. That’s the only kind I ever used.”
Pik: “Well, Mom, come on. You are a little… looser… than me.”
The image of a flag, flapping in a brisk breeze, pops into my mind. Poof. Sympathy gone.
“I meant,” I said, “that’s what I used… when I was your age.”
Pik: “Oh.”
Conversation over. Have a Happy Period. Suckah!