Like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Having and Being Had inspires me more with its form than with its content. The book consists of short (two to five page) essays about the value system we internalize in a modern capitalist society. Most of them are personal essays or anecdotes that illustrate an idea rather than explain or argue for it. For example, Biss and her husband buy a house in a gentrifying neighborhood, and she alludes to her conflicting feelings about it by describing conversations with her neighbors.
The first several essays really grabbed me and got me excited about the possibilities of the format. Unfortunately, Biss wasn't able to sustain the performance. The later parts of the book include more didactic entries, and her insights become more jejune.
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