Nothing particularly earth-shattering if you're familiar with feminist critique and lived through the last presidency, but this book does a good job of packaging all the events into a coherent presentation. I felt like the narrative was a little light on the academic criticism, and veered into nothing more than a personal condemnation of the events, at times, but overall, it was a worthwhile read.

Essays of feminist criticism in the age of Trump. She argues that shock politics and disaster capitalism are intimately intertwined with misogyny, and starts by performing a close reading of Trump’s family romance with gilding, TV, and monarchical aspirations, down to naming his son Barron, which is also the name he used when he was pretending to be a spokesman for himself. There are some gems in her analysis of pop culture phenomena, such as when she discusses the show Unbelievable by evoking W.E.B. Du Bois’s question “How does it feel to be a problem?” and arguing that the analogous question for misogyny is “How does it feel to be unbelievable?” because un/believability is structural. But I didn’t learn an awful lot.

{Digital copy provided by NetGalley}

This dense, academic, and complex collection of essays takes an analytical look at contemporary politics using feminist criticism and a varied and relevant collection of media such as movies, tv shows, newspapers, and books. Like most essay collections, I didn’t love or agree with every thing in this book. From only refering to women in describing those affected by gaslighting, “His or her” usage, both of which excludes anyone who isn’t a woman or uses different pronouns, to some overwrought analyses and conclusions, I definitely had a few issues with it. Nonetheless, this is a thoughtful book that seeks to make the reader think and by using media as cleverly as it does, it helps to make the subject matter more approachable to the general public.

Shell-Shocked: Feminist Criticism After Trump by Bonnie Honig is a collection of essays that combine cultural critique and feminist criticism to examine the ways in which Trump's shock politics have attempted to desensitize us to its inherent cruelty and violence. Those whose lives have not been negatively impacted and also lack empathy and understanding for others will find this too inconvenient for them, not of the right time. Maybe for them the right time is after all the damage is done and those impacted have been eliminated, then they will feel comfortable reading this during this part of their lives. Probably not though, it just isn't in them to care enough.

Like any collection of essays there were some that spoke to me more than others. What I liked about this collection is that the ones that I found most engaging were the ones that showed me new avenues into understanding our time rather than the ones that widened an avenue I have traveled. In recovering from the trauma of the past 4 years, okay all of modern history but we have to start some where, we need as many ways to come to terms with what happened and what is happening still and, no doubt, what will continue to happen. This book offers interesting perspectives presented in a light jargon free manner that should sit well with anyone not swearing allegiance to the cult of Trump.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

I was expecting a more subtle and cerebral take on the topics at hand. These essays feel heavy handed and, for me, it’s just too soon.

It might be interesting to others, but not for me. Of course Trump's name is mentioned, I'm just not interested in this season of my life.