martattack reviewed Saving Time by Jenny Odell
Review of 'Saving Time' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Do you feel like you need to be woken up, for a brief moment, from the productivist stupor you find yourself in? Like you need to be shaken up to your core, blown away, and introduced to new ways in which you can perceive, understand, and embody something as basic yet as eluding as TIME ITSELF?????? Then this book is for you!
Wow this has been a truly fascinating read, yet so complex and rich that I find it hard to reproduce a narrative thread when talking about it with friends. OK I'll give it a try: it starts with a strong critique to the capitalist notion of time as fungible, as a linear succession of equal units to be used and exchanged, all identical to the others and bound to labor or (self!)exploitation, with no regards to any other planetary or biological fluctuations that occur with time. This hegemonic …
Do you feel like you need to be woken up, for a brief moment, from the productivist stupor you find yourself in? Like you need to be shaken up to your core, blown away, and introduced to new ways in which you can perceive, understand, and embody something as basic yet as eluding as TIME ITSELF?????? Then this book is for you!
Wow this has been a truly fascinating read, yet so complex and rich that I find it hard to reproduce a narrative thread when talking about it with friends. OK I'll give it a try: it starts with a strong critique to the capitalist notion of time as fungible, as a linear succession of equal units to be used and exchanged, all identical to the others and bound to labor or (self!)exploitation, with no regards to any other planetary or biological fluctuations that occur with time. This hegemonic construction of time renders us, sometimes, unable to feel like agents, like we have a say in the future of our society. Jenny Odell urges us to break free from this construct, and to tap into other incredibly interesting ways of conceptualizing time, so that we can regain our lost agency and be collectively empowered to inhabit time in a way that will create the societies and the planet we desire.
Did that make sense?! So much is underlined and so many notes! She says it all so much better so y'all better read this. Special mention to how not only does she reference books to make her points, but she weaves in works of art and their meanings and they enrich the whole story so much!! Special mention to how I read this as I became unemployed and for a brief moment I felt so free from the shackles of capitalism..... !!!!
