A novella length essay on the state of the world following the pandemic and the particular condition of politics we have been left with in this country and the world. Shafak's description of things is poignant and reveals her keen and complex mind, not to mention her kindness and generosity. She calls for more listening in the face of the voices that tie to drown everything out with their volume alone. She calls for understanding, and education. This is a modest treatise on living in a difficult world that bears constant re-reading. And it should send you to her wonderful fiction where all the same characteristics are always on full display. Shafak is a gem we should all be happy exists in this time.

Highly Recommended!!!!!
5 bones!!!!! ( )

Vivimos inmersos en una ansiedad contagiosa que nos tiene sumidos en sentimientos de tristeza, soledad y frustración generalizada. Nos sentimos abrumados por los acontecimientos que nos rodean, por la injusticia, por el sufrimiento y por una sensación de crisis continua. Dicen que la esperanza es lo último que se pierde, pero en un mundo tan dividido, ¿cómo mantenemos la cordura?

En este poderoso manifiesto de optimismo consciente, la novelista y activista nominada al Premio Booker Elif Shafak se basa en sus propios recuerdos y defiende el poder de las historias para unirnos. El desasosiego ha privado a las personas de su voz, pero si volvemos a escucharnos los unos a los otros contribuiremos a mejorar la democracia, la empatía y sobre todo a recuperar nuestra fe en un futuro más amable y sabio. ( )

No Magic Pill... but Affirming Nevertheless
Review of the Wellcome Collection paperback edition (August 2020)

Turkish-British author Elif Shafak (author of the Booker nominated [book:10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World|43706466] (2019)) provides an affirming essay about the importance of education and the amplifying of unheard voices in the current age. Providing a partial glimpse into her own multicultural upbringing she takes the reader through stages of "Disillusionment and Bewilderment", "Anxiety", "Anger", "Apathy" to "Information, Knowledge, Wisdom."

Purposeful quotes from her own grandmother to recent writers are sprinkled throughout:

'Don't thank me, ' Grandma said. 'You focus on improving your daughter's life. We inherit our circumstances, we improve them for the next generation. I had little education, I wanted you to do better. Now you need to make sure your daughter has more than you had. Isn't this the natural way of the world? - excerpt from pg. 51

I get angry about things, then go on and work. - Toni Morrison

What we call the beginning is often the end...
The end is where we start from. - T.S. Eliot "Little Gidding" The Four Quartets (1941)

I read How to Stay Sane... thanks to a shared subscription to Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company's Year of Reading 2020 New Releases. ( )