Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal

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I'm looking forward to where Spelbring takes the story and how it develops into something that goes beyond the doctor and his offspring.

Curran isn’t afraid to blame advertising companies who are well aware that discontented consumers are more profitable (117); hence the trade-off of this economic growth is our health and happiness. I have to say that I would have liked to see more of how the world came into being, how it was able to be maintained. Ellyssa is the most common but the story is seen from the almost every important characters POV at some point in the story. The book argues that social media (particularly visual platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok) and advertising are two main culprits breeding insecurity and discontent among us. The relation between your title, The Idea of Perfection, and your subject matter is not immediately obvious, since your character studies in this book seem more concerned with weaknesses and failings than with anything “perfect.

I really liked how things ended and how it was left open, without a cliff hanger, for future installments to a series. My feeling about the book is that it’s not so much a portrait of two contrasting relationships, as a portrait of three people coming to terms with the idea of perfection in different ways.

The Temple of Perfection is an illuminating study that provides insights into historical practices of physical culture and further evidence of the ideological impact of sport and leisure. Even though there were four points of view, they were all unique and I never confused the characters.It’s as if the Nazis won the world war and the mission to rid the world of everyone less than their version of perfect is still being carried out. This is one of the most cleverly-thought-out and unique dystopia's I've ever read and it is so realistic. Gathering a wide range of contemporary evidence, Curran offers “a clear-eyed look at how perfectionism and its capitalistic ‘obsession with boundless growth’ has contributed to mass discontent and insecurity” ( Publishers Weekly). At no point was her language confusing (although she does use the metric system, so if you are unfamiliar with that you may be a little lost). We use cookies on this site to understand how you use our content, and to give you the best browsing experience.

If you could imagine a female Arnold Schwarzenegger-Terminator-figure who has been assigned to kill, that would be a fair comparison. The world is interesting and I’d like to see more about what ordinary life is like, because our protagonists led very different lives, but both weren’t normal. The pacing was spot on, it was slow enough for me to enjoy the details, yet fast enough where I never felt bored.Australian novelist Kate Grenville has won praise from readers and critics alike for her acute psychological portraits and her genius for portraying states of human feeling. Ultimately, it will require policy changes and huge collective action, such as stricter regulations for advertising and social media platforms, fewer mandatory tests in schools and colleges alongside a greater focus on development and learning, and the creation of a more level playing field through policies such as basic income (244). Vera King is Professor of Sociology and Social Psychology at Goethe University and Managing Director of the Sigmund Freud Institute, Frankfurt a. The pacing slowed in spots, but there was enough action to keep me reading and the action scenes were nicely done. Spelbring mentioned Of Mice and Men which I got excited about because I have read that book, and loved it too pieces.

Harley regards herself as having a “dangerous streak,” and this sense of herself discourages her from seeking friendship and love.

I’m of an age to know about the baggage we all carry around with us, of things done that shouldn’t have been done, and things not done that we wish had been. There is a love interest in the story and the build up to it is very exciting but once it is established I thought it was a little too much. Being one of many individuals who have had the honour of reading these classic books I can see that these are the perfect novels to run parallel to Spelbring’s.