Doppelganger

i think this is probably an insightful, important, and impactful book. it's just either not for me or not for me right now. putting it down to focus on something else because my goal this year is to read things i think i'll love!

The mistake I have made many times is reading a book based on its cover and I have done that again here. I 100% thought this was a horror novel. Its not and that’s on me. I ended up getting into parts of the book, but this is just not one I would have read if I actually paid attention to the description.

I couldn’t help but think the author became a bit obsessive over someone that shares the same first name as her. It seemed like this book was almost an autobiography of the other Naomi. The whole book leaned toward American politics, so it felt like I wasn’t the desired audience for this.

The author would jump from thought to thought that as I listened (Audiobook) I genuinely forgot what they were talking about that brought us to here. There is a bit of repetition though out the book and despite this I can’t really tell someone what I read.

Maybe this book would be good for someone else.

this book made me dizzy. On the one hand I like the idea of pulling together many threads under a common theme (the idea of the doppelgänger) but in practice this made the book feel disjointed and chaotic in such a way that I can't hold onto a lot of the ideas in it, and it took a long time to get through.

I also agree with other reviews that the conclusion really suffers as a result of the disjointedness. Like the overall, tie-it-all-together conclusion is basically: work with other people and value community rather than difference. Great but kind of lame compared to some of the big issues in the book. This might have worked better as a collection of separate essays, each with its own proper conclusion.

This book was also clearly written for an audience who already agree with Naomi Klein on most things, and sometimes veered into kind of smugness which was annoying to read, even when I agreed with her.

That being said, I like the exploration of how so much in the world/society can be related back to the idea of the doppelgänger/doubling. The web of connections she spins out from that central idea is fascinating. The parts where she talks about specific examples of doubling/doppelgängers (whether in real life or in fiction) were some of the most interesting. The concepts of the Mirror Word and Shadow Lands were also useful.

I wrote down several quotes from this book...I think it is worth reading...But the overall feeling I had at the end was “finally...” and “that was unnecessarily long,” so it can't get more than 3 or 3.5⭐️

It runs a little longish at times, a bit wordy, but the ideas shine through, and more than a few important insights. An important, worthwhile, and timely read.

Maybe a weird place to start with Naomi Klein, but she does say in Doppelganger that each of her books have been distinct. Here Naomi Klein examines others' conflating her with Naomi Wolf, once a Rhodes scholar who wrote The Beauty Myth, now Steve Bannon's eager-to-please lap dog.

Klein expands this analysis to look at recent pernicious conspiracy theories, which have proliferated to the point that at times it feels we are living in alternate realities to our neighbors and loved ones, who feel similarly disconnected with and unsettled by us.

She names these areas a mirror world or shadow lands. She contends that common fears spiral into patch jobs over unpleasant pasts we are leery to reckon with. We whitewash and sidestep our history. Some actively lobby to expunge it from curricula.

We acknowledge deep inequities not by lifting up and protecting all children, but by fighting for our own children to succeed despite it all, at the expense of everyone else. This scarcity mindset quickly turns to eugenics and fascism, though many with these beliefs do not identify with those terms.

Klein has written an immense book with some immense claims, some of which I found more compelling than others. First of all, when I say immense I mean it. This book could have lost 100 pages and read better. I say, while writing a ridiculously long Goodreads review. Still, she reads the audiobook and I found her narration comforting, even (especially?) when what she was saying was grim.

I liked what Klein shared about how echo chambers hinder our object permanence. When certain pundits are deplatformed from the arenas we have exposure to, that doesn't mean they disappear from relevance. Some cultivate strong, dedicated audiences via outlets we have no overlap with. It's like when I went to DSW recently and realized people still go to department stores, even if I don't. It's just like that.

Klein also gives a scathing takedown of Wolf's failed attempts to be arrested for ignoring COVID safety measures. Wolf's decision to name her daughter after Rosa Parks, paired with invoking imagery of lunch counter sit-ins, is repugnant. She personally harasses a Black-owned restaurant, and invites her live audience to review bomb them. She wields her power recklessly, selfishly, and with little regard for the history she is co-opting, largely to curry favor with political hacks astroturfing coordinated efforts to purge that same history from textbooks.

Perhaps the biggest claims are about how the Nazi regime drew inspiration from the USA settler colonizers' treatment of Indigenous and enslaved and/or segregated Black Americans. I would like to read and watch more about this, but I am comfortable saying Klein is correct insofar as it being disingenuous to position WWII as a simple story of Good vs. (aberrative, unique, conquered) Evil.

What let me down most was the conclusion. I think there were some good twists and punchy lines, and I agree that mutual aid and collective action are antidotes to our fears and uncertainty. There is hope and strength to be had in seeing the power we hold when we come together. I also agree about building purposefully inclusive structures, and dedicating our energy into the success of everyone, instead of us above and instead of others.

However, like, how? Say more on that? It felt like a lot of fluff without enough actionable examples and ideas. Don't talk to me about how bad it is for 500 pages then be like “we must take action” and then the book is over. I agree but elaborate on that instead of talking to me more about Philip Roth.

It was unexpectedly wonderful to read this alongside [b:Against Technoableism|77265030|Against Technoableism Rethinking Who Needs Improvement|Ashley Shew|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1676125743l/77265030.SY75.jpg|102480407]. I liked how both books integrated examples from fictional texts and social media posts and blogs. These forms of media are not always taken as seriously, but important ideas circulate there, especially in the 21st Century.

In all, I think this was a fascinating, expansive, and timely read. I am interested to read Klein's other works. I also bought a seam ripper to take the logos off all my stuff, and it is oddly thrilling. Highly recommend that, even if you don't pick this up.

The description is so misleading and I probably wouldn't have read this if the description was accurate.

Matt Taibbi and Matt Yglesias are seething right now

Takes the idea of the Doppelgänger in many different, often surprising directions. 

An extremely engaging, pop (in the best sense of the word) analysis of our current moment in global politics. Naomi Klein's tour takes us from far right podcasts to fifteen minute city conspiracies, the wellness movement to ableist parents of autistic kids, and a critical look at Israel which feels more relevant in our current moment than ever. Would recommend pairing with the Philosophy Tube video ‘Why We Can't Build Better Cities', which I watched while reading this, which both speak to the mis-and-disinformation moment we are currently living through.

Be careful not to think that this is a speculative fiction or sci-fi novel, as it couldn't be further from it. While it is somewhat clever to use the metaphorical idea of a doppelgänger - someone being an opposite reflection of you - this book is actually more of an autobiographical, heavy-leaning political manifesto that lays out, sometimes point-for-point, all of the perceived shortcomings (and horrors) around the most highly-sensitive issues like American politics, COVID-19, systemic racism/prejudice, the climate crisis, and more. With that, it is very well written and articulated in great detail to the point where anyone who wants to understand the divide that plagues much of the United States at present, need just read this.

Leftist writer Naomi Klein opens this hard-to-characterize book explaining how she is frequently mistaken for journalist Naomi Wolf, especially online. Klein's area of expertise is “corporate power and its ravages,” while Wolf, whose [b:The Beauty Myth 39926 The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388197585l/39926.SY75.jpg 836516] was beloved by white feminists, has gradually became more hard core right wing. After COVID upended everything, Wolf found a home with Trump acolytes like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, spouting anti-vaxxer, anti-mask, rabid conspiracy theories. For this issue and many others, Klein offers examples of how a real systemic problem (such pharmaceutical greed, poorly funded public health systems) was transformed in Wolf's mirror world into a nefarious plot. Klein has great insight into the way Bannon and his ilk have seized on complex concerns, such as child abuse or healthcare access, and have offered simple explanations: Hillary Clinton is killing babies in the basement of a pizza place. The government is hiding cures for cancer, but this 100% natural oil will save you. She even provides a remarkably cogent analysis of the current Israel/Palestine tragedy,* putting the Holocaust –> founding of Israel narrative in the context of other genocides and colonizations. Klein attempts to broaden the doppelganger experience of Klein vs Wolf (Klein = fine, Wolf = oof) into psychological concepts like shadow lands and mirror worlds, and at times she seems to be reaching for connections that don't quite exist. However, Doppelganger is still a fascinating, well-written look at the ongoing dumpster fire of 2024, and two women who exemplify the divisions between us. * This book was published before October 7, 2023 when a tragic situation somehow became even worse.

This was the 1st non-fiction book I've listened to-start to finish in a long time. I was able to stay with the writing in large part because I listened to the audiobook which is read by the author herself. Hearing her story read in her own voice made the telling come alive for me. It starts as an investigation, but the journey the author's takes her into what she calls the "Mirror world." As I don't hang out there myself, I learned from the author as she also discovered the twisted view of reality that lives here. Yet, what made this compelling and challenging for me is how she finds there an acknowledgement of real societal problems-and ones that those of us on the left are ignoring. A thoughtful and chalenging, yet satisfying read for me. Highly recommended.

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

I struggled to work out what the theme of this book was. And she didn't provide any original meaningful insights into anything she talked about.

Naomi Klein appreciates the irony of having written a book called No Logo and now finding herself trying to shore up her own personal brand. Naomi Wolf is another middle-aged, big haired, Jewish thinker who came to prominence in the nineties with an influential book.

And while it's annoying enough to face constant mistaken attributions on Twitter, things escalate when her doppelgänger takes a hard rightward turn into anti-vax conspiracist. Still, it seems thin gruel on which to base a book on.

But this is just an entry point into the rabbit hole that is our society's obsession with the other, with the mirror world. From the mild, like our personal online avatars in the attention economy, to the massive, with right wing media network spouting wild conspiracies as traditional journalism flounders.

Significantly, Klein notes that conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but the feelings right. Political elites beholden to corporate interest - becomes a cabal of pedophiles planning to institute a world government. Railing at globalists, elites and the World Economic Forums conveniently diverts attention away from capitalism as a broken system and leaves most global billionaires intact.

It's a powerful tool of diversion and distraction that keeps us so busy fighting ourselves, dunking on others, owning the libs or fact-checking the right we miss the opportunity for collective action for something better. Change requires collaboration, even when it's uncomfortable. But we're so caught up in the frantic, divisive, noisy hullabaloo. We're hooked on the dopamine kick of being validated in our own little bubbles as we land another sick burn before doomscrolling to the next crisis.

In the end Klein posits that calm is a force of resistance. That calm is the precondition for focus, which gives us the capacity to prioritize and possibly work together. Just a far reaching and prescient read.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me an eARC of this book, which hadn't been proof read, in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled a bit with this one. I usually read crime fiction and the odd autobiography for a bit of variety, so this was a little bit out of my comfort zone.
As the title would suggest, the book deals with the doppleganger effect. The author, Naomi Klein, has a doppelganger, also called Naomi. Naomi Wolfe to be precise. Naomi Wolfe appears to be a conspiracy theorist, and is not shy about being vocal in her theories about Covid, vaccinations, the Biden administration and climate change. However, people mistakenly believe that it is Naomi Klein who is posting these views across social media platforms.

The book is an in depth look at the various theories put about by Wolfe and how they have impacted on Klein.

I struggled because I didn't understand a lot of what Ms Klein was talking about, and because the book was rather long. The topic was interesting, but a touch long winded for me. Also, as the book had not been proof read, I had to fill in a lot of blanks. That aside, it engaged my interest enough for me to stick with it.