What If This Were Enough?
Essays
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Narrated by:
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Heather Havrilesky
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Written by:
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Heather Havrilesky
About this listen
*A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018*
*A Bustle Best Nonfiction Book of 2018*
*One of Chicago Tribune's Favorite Books by Women in 2018*
*A Self Best Book of 2018 to Buy for the Bookworm in Your Life*
By the acclaimed critic, memoirist, and advice columnist behind the popular "Ask Polly," an impassioned collection tackling our obsession with self-improvement and urging readers to embrace the imperfections of the everyday
Heather Havrilesky's writing has been called "whip-smart and profanely funny" (Entertainment Weekly) and "required reading for all humans" (Celeste Ng). In her work for New York, The Baffler, The New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic, as well as in "Ask Polly," her advice column for The Cut, she dispenses a singular, cutting wisdom--an ability to inspire, provoke, and put a name to our most insidious cultural delusions.
What If This Were Enough? is a mantra and a clarion call. In its chapters--many of them original to the book, others expanded from their initial publication--Havrilesky takes on those cultural forces that shape us. We've convinced ourselves, she says, that salvation can be delivered only in the form of new products, new technologies, new lifestyles. From the allure of materialism to our misunderstandings of romance and success, Havrilesky deconstructs some of the most poisonous and misleading messages we ingest today, all the while suggesting new ways to navigate our increasingly bewildering world.
Through her incisive and witty inquiries, Havrilesky urges us to reject the pursuit of a shiny, shallow future that will never come. These timely, provocative, and often hilarious essays suggest an embrace of the flawed, a connection with what already is, who we already are, what we already have. She asks us to consider: What if this were enough? Our salvation, Havrilesky says, can be found right here, right now, in this imperfect moment.
What the critics say
"There's an effortlessness to Heather Havrilesky's writing that is incredibly rare. Her funniest sentences are still empathetic. Her darkest confessions are still pretty funny. It doesn't seem to matter what she's writing about, or what point she's trying to make. She's just good at it." (Chuck Klosterman, author of But What If We're Wrong? and Killing Yourself to Live)
"Heather is that dear friend you run into at a bad party at which you’re stuck and you say ‘Oh thank God you’re here’ and spend the rest of the night making dark and hilarious jokes about the party, other attendees, and the human condition. Thank God she’s here." (Jake Tapper, author of The Hellfire Club and The Outpost)
“[Havrilesky] wants Americans to ‘wake up to the unbelievable gift of being alive’, even though it means facing...the scary emotions that are easier avoided. It’s a message she relates with insight, wit, and terrific prose.” (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about What If This Were Enough?
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Amanda Stringer
- 2018-12-03
Love this so much, I am listening to it again
Heather offers a wonderful insight into the unique challenges of today's world. She does an excellent job question the BS.
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- Jon Buss
- 2018-12-03
Buyer's remorse
I listened to this woman yammer on for hours about TV shows and stories about her Dad, hoping there would be some profound revelation about the theme of enough. Didn't happen.
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1 person found this helpful