Booklogging: The Undomestic Goddess
Sep. 26th, 2011 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katewritesThis is from the school of books that says that high power jobs are life killers and that you will be MISERABLE FOREVER AT THEM and that all you need is to pare down and either move to a small town or get a job as a (and this is where the books vary) gardener, small business owner (books, clothes, antiques, etc). In this case, she decided to be a housekeeper.
Moreover, the jobs that the highly educated/stressed people take are always presented as idyllic rather than stressful in their own ways. Being a domestic, where someone can literally order you around can be so stressful. You are not a person! You are a thing! But this doesn't seem to matter to Samantha in any tangible way. The closest she gets is being annoyed at a law student who doesn't ever drink the coffee Samantha continually brings her.
I am not saying that overworked people don't need to take a break, but this is kind of an odd school of thought - mostly because highly paid lawyers make anywhere from 10 to a google as much as housekeepers. This is kind of addressed in the book, but not really. No one in this book is struggling for money, even the people working 3 or 4 jobs (I was a little confused how many jobs the gardener was working).
The book tried to deal with this in some ways. It had her think and rethink the fact that she was giving up the salary of a lifetime in order to be "the help". It also addressed the fact that this was not a statement on feminism or women in general, but rather a single person. However, a big deal was made out of the fact that she charges 500 pounds an hour at her law firm, but really she never addresses if it's feasible for her to live on 11,000 pounds a year.
Also, I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would be interested enough in a lawyer quitting to create a media frenzy.
This was a kind of charming book, and I really bought that Samantha was stressed out, but I didn't quite buy that 1: it is that easy to become a master chef (a couple of weeks?? REALLY???) or 2: that money was an issue only in how BAD it was to make a career choice based on it.
Moreover, the jobs that the highly educated/stressed people take are always presented as idyllic rather than stressful in their own ways. Being a domestic, where someone can literally order you around can be so stressful. You are not a person! You are a thing! But this doesn't seem to matter to Samantha in any tangible way. The closest she gets is being annoyed at a law student who doesn't ever drink the coffee Samantha continually brings her.
I am not saying that overworked people don't need to take a break, but this is kind of an odd school of thought - mostly because highly paid lawyers make anywhere from 10 to a google as much as housekeepers. This is kind of addressed in the book, but not really. No one in this book is struggling for money, even the people working 3 or 4 jobs (I was a little confused how many jobs the gardener was working).
The book tried to deal with this in some ways. It had her think and rethink the fact that she was giving up the salary of a lifetime in order to be "the help". It also addressed the fact that this was not a statement on feminism or women in general, but rather a single person. However, a big deal was made out of the fact that she charges 500 pounds an hour at her law firm, but really she never addresses if it's feasible for her to live on 11,000 pounds a year.
Also, I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would be interested enough in a lawyer quitting to create a media frenzy.
This was a kind of charming book, and I really bought that Samantha was stressed out, but I didn't quite buy that 1: it is that easy to become a master chef (a couple of weeks?? REALLY???) or 2: that money was an issue only in how BAD it was to make a career choice based on it.
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Date: 2011-09-27 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-27 02:59 pm (UTC)