A Subtle Art
When I was retiring, long, long, ago, there is this young man I genuinely respect, who felt he knew me well enough to not only recommend this book, to me, but also order it and have it sent to my house. He probably intuitively realised that being an English teacher, I would know the meanings of all the words, four lettered or otherwise, looking at it, purely from an academic point of view, and without disapproval. Of course.
The cover of the book is featured above this post. I read it in two hours, within the time I had between college lectures, household chores, listening with rapt attention to my mother-in-law, and my husband…you know the ritual.
I don’t know how many of you are squeamish about four-letter words: Songs and singers I like have taught me that they have their place in life and creativity. But don’t be put off by the title. One note of warning, though: the book is liberally peppered with them. But if you can get beyond your natural repugnance to them, the book is an eye-opener in every which way possible. I issue this warning because of the disapproving but predictable way a former colleague, who is now heading a school, reacted to a movie where a woman uses abusive, vituperative language.
The book shakes you up, it destroys many of your cherished ideals and value systems, it shoots down your comfort zones, every one of them. It tells you things about yourself and other people that you would rather not know. It requires a great deal of courage to read and acknowledge the home truths in what Mark Manson says.
But at the end of it, you feel a sense of being reborn, and alive again. Throughout the book, you are confronted with the intellectual honesty, the courage and the compassion of the author.
Read it for the truth. And the courage. And the searing, no-holds barred honesty of the author. And read it in the end, for his analysis of commitment, and why is is so difficult to commit oneself to one person, one profession, one compassionate way of life…and ultimately, why that commitment is so rewarding.
And for all the Puritans out there: don’t judge a book by its cover.
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