Julian reviewed All About Love by bell hooks
not for me
2 stars
I've heard great things about bell hooks but I really didn't like this book. There were lots of sweeping statements and some gender stereotypes in very heterosexual examples. I don't understand why she needed a definition of love, and I don't agree that it has anything to do with spirituality, so it fell apart for me early. Lots of Christian stuff. Some things felt all over the place, like she had a dream of her "true love" then met him at a conference but he was already in a relationship? Then she says well not all love is romantic (for sure!) but doesn't follow up. How was this guy your true love? Did you form a deep friendship, do you keep in touch? Then angels came into play... She advocates for forgiveness and also urged her lesbian sister not to create distance with their homophobic parents... A lot just didn't …
I've heard great things about bell hooks but I really didn't like this book. There were lots of sweeping statements and some gender stereotypes in very heterosexual examples. I don't understand why she needed a definition of love, and I don't agree that it has anything to do with spirituality, so it fell apart for me early. Lots of Christian stuff. Some things felt all over the place, like she had a dream of her "true love" then met him at a conference but he was already in a relationship? Then she says well not all love is romantic (for sure!) but doesn't follow up. How was this guy your true love? Did you form a deep friendship, do you keep in touch? Then angels came into play... She advocates for forgiveness and also urged her lesbian sister not to create distance with their homophobic parents... A lot just didn't work for me, even though I believe in a lot of her conclusions about the importance of friendship and community as love, how we're all harmed by capitalism and patriarchy. Maybe this was groundbreaking when it came out, but I didn't get much out of it.
