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Siobhan's Reviews > My Body
My Body
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Listen.. I really wanted to like this, but I found it nauseating. Her writing isn't terrible (considering what I was expecting), but I struggle to imagine it holding weight if she were to turn her observation outward. The woman is overly fixated on public perception, and this seems more like an attempt to be rebranded as Joan Didion than it does a valiant effort to direct a wider discussion on the harms of objectifying/commodifying women. In spite of her effort to absolve herself of accountability, she does nothing to acknowledge her place in perpetuating the very structure she claims to be fighting against.
It's strange that she frequently victimizes herself for coming from a financially precarious upbringing, but her descriptions of a southern Californian upbringing (which involved frequent international travel and an expensive education) suggest otherwise. She desperately wants to be seen as an underdog, but comes off incredibly self absorbed and out of touch.
And the writing- It seems like a sloppy imitation of "Good" writing, but it was overly self congratulatory and lacks self awareness. She is incapable of forming a cohesive observation of anything beyond her own self delusion. An attempt was made, but I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone looking for something of substance.
It's strange that she frequently victimizes herself for coming from a financially precarious upbringing, but her descriptions of a southern Californian upbringing (which involved frequent international travel and an expensive education) suggest otherwise. She desperately wants to be seen as an underdog, but comes off incredibly self absorbed and out of touch.
And the writing- It seems like a sloppy imitation of "Good" writing, but it was overly self congratulatory and lacks self awareness. She is incapable of forming a cohesive observation of anything beyond her own self delusion. An attempt was made, but I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone looking for something of substance.
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Finished Reading
November 12, 2021
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Morgane
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rated it 4 stars
Jan 04, 2022 11:52AM
Just...how do you copy "good writing?" it's a genuine question.
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I missed her mentions of international vacations in the book? Low income immigrants take International vacations back home, so traveling isn’t a sign of wealth. It can be done cheap. Europeans prioritize it while Americans don’t. I thought she went to try public school where her parents taught? But if it was private school a teachers kid would get free tuition.
despite this reviewer saying they really wanted to like this book, then contradicting themself in the next section by saying they expected her writing to be terrible�. oof. the author consistently talks about her internal struggle with being a part of a system that she feels she needs to play the game in order to succeed. she specifically discusses feeling as though she cannot win no matter her role and wondering why she is constantly seeking the approval of others and men in particular. i found the book to be incredibly vulnerable and real and relatable in a way i wasn’t anticipating. she isn’t leaving the modeling industry - and she doesn’t need to. many of us stay in jobs or industries we don’t like or always agree with for a multitude of reasons. she is simply sharing her experiences, thoughts and feelings.
@Lindsey I haven’t read this book and I feel so conflicted about it... and she (Emily Ratajkowski) is constantly conflicted throughout the book, it seems. I just wonder if it won’t make me a mess of conflicting and fluctuating thoughts? Lol. Then again, I suppose the best books often have the reader struggling to make up their minds. I guess one of my issues has been, “okay, if you did Blurred Lines because of the fame and the absurd amount of opportunity and money that also came with that video shoot - and it was about a decade ago so you would have been like 18(?) and SUPER naive - I can understand that. We can’t - well, we shouldn’t - blame nor brand people for a choice they made once, and at such a young age at that. I suppose my problem is more that... it doesn’t really seem as though she practices what she preaches. I rarely use social media anymore, but I just remember precious times (not long ago) looking at Emily’s IG and nearly all the shots are nude or rather, mostly nude with what is required to be covered up, covered up. She knows she has the perfect body and having nearly every post or every other post be of her nude doesn’t exactly scream “empowerment� or her embracing herself and all her flaws to me. Rather, it screams narcissism. But then again I do understand (as much as a “normal person� can) how insane the Hollywood scene is, the culture of celebrity and fame, the pressure and she demands. So I just want to be clear that I don’t have just that one opinion of her (as something more of a pseudo feminist, as opposed to being genuinely upset with herself over using her body and her looks to make her life successful). It’s very complicated, and now this response is bordering on a novel of its own so I’ll wrap it up, lol. I was just wondering what you thought about the seemingly contradictory life she leads in comparison to her allegedly feminist views. In other words, I’m kind of asking why you’d recommend this and what made you ultimately believe that both what she’s said and what she’s done can ultimately be understood/reconciled.
Sorry, I’m quite tired and my grammar is a bit off here.
Also, I see my brilliant Siri autocorrected “previous� to “precious.� 🤦🏼♀�
@ Megan you’re making a lot of assumptions for someone who hasn’t even read the book.
She went to a public high school.
@Lindsay You comment really resonated with me. Well said. We live in a world with a lot of grey area but with frameworks that dictate black or white. One can’t share their ever changing feelings from one point in their life and have it answer all the questions. There would be no point in sharing, we would already have all the answers.
So you expected her to be a dumb bitch just because shes pretty?
@kathryn okay and I acknowledged that and I wish you would genuinely acknowledge my question as I am curious and I can’t get a non-biased answer from my sister (who has read the book) and is obsessed with her.
