by Ivanka Trump ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017
A vapid, throwaway book certain to exasperate most women who work.
Donald Trump’s daughter weighs in on “rewriting the rules for success.”
In a book that was written “before the election,” Trump (The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, 2009) cites her father as an influence in her business ventures, which have included her position as executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization and co-founder of the Ivanka Trump Collection. The fact that the author was born into wealth and married into another highly affluent family doesn’t necessarily discredit her oft-repeated assertion that she is "deeply passionate" about "the education and empowerment of women and girls; leveling the playing field for female entrepreneurs and job creators; and advancing the potential of women in our economy.” Certainly her degree from the Wharton School helps her cause as well. However, there is very little in this book—essentially a culling of maxims from a host of other business books from more qualified authors—that rings true. It’s also difficult to take advice about “leveling the playing field” from a businesswoman who has blatantly traded on the power and prestige of the presidency. She states the demographic of her “Women Who Work initiative” is "mostly millennials, single and married women, with and without kids…all passionate about work.” However, the focus of her insipid version of a live-your-best-life mantra is unsurprisingly limited to well-educated women in the corporate world. As she repeatedly claims that she wants to change “the conversation around work and women" and that she’s “incredibly dedicated to creating solutions for modern women who are living full, multidimensional lives,” the author is oblivious to the real trials of those who are unlike her. This short, nearly useless book fails to offer or add new information to countless other examinations of work and "passion,” not to mention more honest and instructive memoirs written by actual entrepreneurs who had to begin their paths to success from the ground floor.
A vapid, throwaway book certain to exasperate most women who work.Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7352-1132-2
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2017
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SEEN & HEARD
by Cheryl Strayed ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2015
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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by Glennon Doyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2020
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
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More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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