5 stars
I received an ARC of this book through Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
This is truly and remarkable and magnificent book.
While it did take me about a month to finish, I really enjoyed this book. I am normally a fairly quick reader, but this one took me a while. Part of that was because some of the issues are very difficult to deal with. This book makes you angry. It’s supposed to make you angry and it is very successful at that. However, I wasn’t always ready to be angry in the moment, hence the long read time.
Still, this was a fantastic read. It covers various topics related to how women express angry and are taught to think about anger as well as in-depth explorations of multiple reasons women have every right be feel angry. I really liked the overall message that anger can be a healthy response to situations. The book focuses on the negative outcomes of suppressed anger and anger directed inefficiently through other outlets and emphasizes the importance of healthy expression of anger as well as the beneficial ways anger powers creativity and motivates change. Just amazing.
A mix of research, history, current events, and personal anecdotes, this book really engages the reader and invites them to think about anger in a new way. I personally know I am horrible at expressing anger. I ruminate and suppress and I’m working on it. But this book helped me re-categorize the importance of anger in life.
Many of the topics discussed in the book are heavy and uncomfortable, but I think Chemaly did a wonderful job analyzing the research and bringing so many issues together in connection to anger. This is a fantastically powerful and educational read. I can’t say enough good things about it.
Also, my TBR pile is now exploding with various books and articles mentioned in this book, which is never a bad thing.