| | Judith Levine's "Not Buying It"is not totally devoted to her tale of a year of non-consumption. She takes plenty of detours into memoir and politics, but when she stays on topic, it is well-researched, well-thought-out, and enjoyable. Contrary to my first impression book, Levine didn't buy nothing.
She limited consumption to "necessities," a term whose definition was
one recurrent theme. Having said that, the book is worth a read. Levine writes like the most accessible of culture professors and can turn a distinctive phrase ("Others wish us luck, even thank us, communicating an attitude there's probably a German word for, meaning 'admiration for an enterprise you are glad someone else is doing, so you don't have to.'").
Throughout the book is are undercurrents of the religion of consumption and the spirituality of reduction. At one point, Levine says, "I do want something religion offers in abundance: the permission to desire wildly, to want the biggest stuff--communion, transcendence, joy, and a freedom that has nothing to do with a choice of checking accounts or E-Z access to anything." Consumerism, (and, she finds, non-consumerism) do not supply these things. "No, we don't need religious faith," she says, "but if we are going to desire the big stuff and get it, one kind of blind faith is necessary: the faith that it is possible."
While I disagree wholeheartedly with that sentence's initial clause, I couldn't agree more with its conclusion.
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| | Posted 1/5/2008 2:55 PM - 29 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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