When I bought this book and I watched the trailer I was intrigued. I wanted to explore the connection between the other and the big evils of the world. The answers that I need for my own life as a parent, life being and cog of the big machine.

What I didn’t expect was how personal it felt. Doppelganger wasn’t just a literary device; it was an exploration of various forms of othering through her identity struggle with somebody that shared a lot with her: Naomi Wolf. She was the spark that started it all and served as a reference point.

structure

At first the exploration took her to the mirror world: The conspiracy world that is taking more and more people. Why does that work exist and why is it attractive to them. How the lies create an untrustable world that doesn’t allow introspection [[]]

Then it shifts to the shadows land, which is the global subconscious. The stories that societies tell itself to keep going, and how healing can’t happen if the stories are real.

The final chapter is a necessary consequence of the shadows land. If the stories that we tell ourselves in the subconscious cause the mirror world to appear, then the only possible answer is to detach ourselves of these stories. Rejecting othering. Because othering is the common theme behind the doppelganger concept.

My review

This book has a very personal and intense energy. As she mentioned in many interviews, this is an inwards exploration effort of the external world. An adventure of sense making that stats small and explains some of the community dynamics that have changed.

In contrast, her book “This changes everything” feels like a the description of a system from outside from the very beginning, more factual and equaly incisive.

These two styles yield different results, both highly recommendable.