381 pages
English language
Published Sept. 5, 2023 by Penguin Books, Limited.
Not the book I was expecting but a stonking good read nonetheless. Klein is a clear, incisive and insightful writer, and gave me a lot to think about.
Though there is some levity, much of it is absolutely chilling as it takes an unflinching look at the state of the world. Klein is no doomsayer but… it's not looking good folks.
Decidedly worth reading, and a book I'll be ruminating on for a long time to come.
Making the connections as to 'how we got here' ! Wonder critique of social media and the void being filled by conspiracy theories. Plus, suggestions for a way forward. Just what we need to try to stay in the moment.
Naomi Klein combines an interesting discussion of her experience being mistaken for Naomi Wolf, in combination with history, current events, and the experiences of the last decade or so. It's a very interesting, captivating, and enjoyable read, and informative as Klein can be.
Naomi Klein is one of the most important thinkers of our time, whether she is applying her talents to film, journalism, or long-form writing. Her ability to pull together often seemingly disparate threads of analysis into a coherent, fluid whole is as erudite as it is insightful. Doppelganger covers a wide array of sociopolitical issues that threaten life as we know it in North America, weaving it all together through introspection on the concept of having a personal double. She has done a tremendous lot of study and legwork following what once was the far right, which has over the last decade become its new center. Klein's approachable synthesis of all that she's gleaned in that process is a gift to those of us who cannot stomach, say, hundreds of hours of Steve Bannon's War Room. Along the way the reader is offered new or reframed mental models that help …
Naomi Klein is one of the most important thinkers of our time, whether she is applying her talents to film, journalism, or long-form writing. Her ability to pull together often seemingly disparate threads of analysis into a coherent, fluid whole is as erudite as it is insightful. Doppelganger covers a wide array of sociopolitical issues that threaten life as we know it in North America, weaving it all together through introspection on the concept of having a personal double. She has done a tremendous lot of study and legwork following what once was the far right, which has over the last decade become its new center. Klein's approachable synthesis of all that she's gleaned in that process is a gift to those of us who cannot stomach, say, hundreds of hours of Steve Bannon's War Room. Along the way the reader is offered new or reframed mental models that help make sense of the terrifying chaos taking place around us—for example, the "Mirror World", and her boosting of Calliston and Slobodian's concept of Diagonalism (or Querdenken) to provide a realistic alternative to horseshoe theory.
Klein states that a goal she's pursued through all her work is to spread awareness and make sense of systems and events that can easily spark outrage, but to do so in a way that creates a sense of calm in naming such things and conveying actionable means of opposition. For me at least, Doppelganger achieves this goal, a lofty one considering the poignant reality of rapidly advancing fascism in our time. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in intersectional leftist perspectives on everything from current events to the ways technology has reshaped daily life in the 21st century.
I wasn't sure where this would lead, but, as always, Klein didn't disappoint. Her destination is terrifying. As a reader I appreciated her scaffolding the story to get us there. Towards the end, she delves into solutions, though with notable resistance to the idea of solutions at this point. But, she does offer us, 'Change requires collaboration and coalition, even — especially — uncomfortable coalition.' To get to this new world, she references a key from Civil Rights scholar John A. Powell, asserting, 'We can be hard and critical on structures but soft on people.'" Time to f#$% some sh!# up and take care of one another. My rating? who cares!
A personal narrative that seamlessly interweaves several heavy subjects together without making the reading experience to cumbersome. Would recommend
Naomi Klein has a very incisive view of the current world - the strengths and weaknesses of both the left and right, and why people slip between the cracks and land in the Mirror World full of its own set of truths and news and facts that reflect, but don't agree with the views and values of the consensus reality. I like her dawning compassion about the way that the left can be too rigid and not reflective enough, and that closing people out creates conditions for this mirroring. Usually books around a theme bend reality to fit the theme, but Klein found a lot of very honest ways in which doppelgangers apply to our current reality.
There are no firm conclusions, but the raw honesty, the uncertainty, the struggling with how complicated things are -- I think that's the point. In particular, her handling of Israel and Zionism is …
Naomi Klein has a very incisive view of the current world - the strengths and weaknesses of both the left and right, and why people slip between the cracks and land in the Mirror World full of its own set of truths and news and facts that reflect, but don't agree with the views and values of the consensus reality. I like her dawning compassion about the way that the left can be too rigid and not reflective enough, and that closing people out creates conditions for this mirroring. Usually books around a theme bend reality to fit the theme, but Klein found a lot of very honest ways in which doppelgangers apply to our current reality.
There are no firm conclusions, but the raw honesty, the uncertainty, the struggling with how complicated things are -- I think that's the point. In particular, her handling of Israel and Zionism is beautifully nuanced
Klein uses the public's conflation of herself and Naomi Wolf as a jumping off point for an extremely insightful analysis of social media and the internet. Absolute must read for anyone interested in sociology of the web
I think I wanted this to be something slightly different than what it was—less on Wolfe and contemporary politics, and more on the concept of doubling, more abstract and literary, less political. It has elements of both, and autobiography in a way that seems quite new (and welcome) for Klein, so more an issue of proportion than of kind. As it is, I found this interesting in the moment but didn’t find a lot to take away with me.
