In the final book of her love trilogy that began with "all about love" and "salvation, " bell hooks explores the ways ideas about women and love we...
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Apr 03, 2009
Polly
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I loved this book. I love bell hooks in general, but happened to read this book at exactly the right time in my life so that it was a profound and transformative experience; it is always gratifying to see my own philosophy laid out in print with articulate grace, and "Communion" was deeply affirming in that way. hooks agrees with Fromm that love is an art form, "an action informed by care, respect, knowledge, and responsibility." hooks says that it is not possible to have lov
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Jan 02, 2012
Urban
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hooks is not only an activist for change, she is an activist and a believer in the right to and power of love - and her recent trilogy on the subject explores this eloquently. when i was in california back in february, a friend recommended these to me, and i’m so glad. definitely these are some of the best and most progressive books i have read on defining, understanding, and looking for love within the patriarchal morass we often find ourselves in. love, she posits, is subverted by popular noti
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Jun 25, 2011
feathers
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i wish i could give this book to a younger version of myself because it states so plainly a lot of things i took too long to figure out for myself. that is to say, i really like and appreciate what she's saying here, but i think i read it about 5 years too late? even so, there is much here to chew on. hooks makes the important, oft understated, point that patriarchy keeps men AND women from really knowing and loving themselves. self-love as a foundation for honest, non-dominating relationships i
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Oct 28, 2009
Amanda
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A woman conducts a library tour for her lover from far away. All blue hair and fuzz they are together. bell hooks I read. I read some bell hooks I gush. Tell me one thing you got out of it. You don't fall in love, you choose it. I don't fall in love. I don't need to fall in love. I can choose to fall in love. That's what he has been sayin'! I am love. I am a lovebian.
This has a lot for middle age women. I decided not to quit Christmas because I want to give this book as a p More...
This has a lot for middle age women. I decided not to quit Christmas because I want to give this book as a p More...
Jan 29, 2012
erby
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One line descriptor: Self-help book for midlife feminist women who are facing their insecurities.
This book was extremely frustrating. I actually had read bell hooks' "Feminism is for Everybody," which I loved to the extent that I felt like I could call myself feminist for the first time in my life and not feel guilty or self-conscious about it.
While that book was sort of a crash-course in feminism, "Communion" focuses specifically on love. However, a More...
This book was extremely frustrating. I actually had read bell hooks' "Feminism is for Everybody," which I loved to the extent that I felt like I could call myself feminist for the first time in my life and not feel guilty or self-conscious about it.
While that book was sort of a crash-course in feminism, "Communion" focuses specifically on love. However, a More...
Jan 26, 2008
Emma
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I can't on earth figure out why I picked up this book...and then read it cover-to-cover. The female search for love? Blech. I think the fact that bell hooks would write a book with such a horrible-sounding title intrigued me.
But it was surprisingly not blech-inducing. I ended up loving it.
Her passages about self-help books (and this was my family's first religion) were incredibly insightful. She locates it as a place of great strength and power and potential for the fem More...
But it was surprisingly not blech-inducing. I ended up loving it.
Her passages about self-help books (and this was my family's first religion) were incredibly insightful. She locates it as a place of great strength and power and potential for the fem More...
Sep 16, 2007
Jamia
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bell hooks always has the elixer when my soul needs healing....i have read many of her books during times when i have felt shattered and scattered... and her words have been the glue that has helped get me back together... last night i delved back into the chapter "gaining power, losing love" at 2 am... i remember how much i loved it when i first read it... and its healing power holds firm today... hooks makes no excuses... she doesn't just accept things the way they are. she knows t
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Dec 26, 2011
Carolyne
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If you like feminist theory/thinking, this is definitely a great read, and written by one of the best. bell hooks critiques the concept of ‘love’ from a feminist perspective as well as her own personal stories. Even though women’s liberation has made it possible for women to enjoy power, jobs and money, so many women are stuck in relationships that are either love-less or un-loving, and often consciously or sub-consciously accept subordination when it comes to loving men. Why? She urges men and
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Feb 11, 2008
Afrose
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Communion threw some heavy truths at me; some things that seemed obvious on the page but when juxtaposed against my life, sort of shocked me out of my body. The last few chapters were extremely useful, as they explored different ways to be in relationship with other people. The chapter on Romantic Friendships talks about a kind of partnership where two women build a life together that isn't sexual, and yet they share a home and plan their lives together. This was a beautiful way for me to descri
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May 15, 2009
Andrea
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Total self-help, self-awareness dribble for the middle-aged and near-post-Second-Wave feminism. I was very disappointed in bell hooks and the whole "the journey to love is self-love", it's been done, give me something new to use. Oh, that and the book has more to do with finding and realizing love in your 40s and beyond, not really something of use for those of us under 40.
Just don't read this.
Just don't read this.
Apr 23, 2011
Meredith
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this book has been incredibly uncomfortable for me to read so far, but perhaps that is what will ultimately make it great. i have so many tangential reactions to her writing that the reading is very slow-going. lately, i have been thinking a lot about my own changing feminisms and whether my growing comfort with identifying as a woman despite all the accompanying 3rd wave sass makes me less of a "radical" (and wtf would that signify anyway?). i think some of my discomfort stems from
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Jun 14, 2009
Jung
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This was my first bell hooks book and I loved it. Her critique of feminism's failure to include love in its revolution and the wisdom she's gained from living and loving through the women's lib movement was insightful and interesting. It's the 3rd in her series of books on love and I can't wait to read her other ones--they're very popular as there's a waiting list at the library!
Jul 10, 2009
Vrinda
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Read this, read this, read this! Wow, what a brilliant, inspiring, empowering, phenomenal book from the amazing bell hooks. She offers a powerful critique of life and relationships within a context of patriarchy (where domination and submission exist, where aging is tragic), and describes powerful relationships of equality -- rich and satisfying with love, respect, knowledge, commitment, communication, and caring. Talks about inter-female relationships, heterosexual relationships, lesbian rel
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Jan 26, 2009
Erin
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This book introduces the idea that there is not a fundamental emotional difference between men and women - other than what has been instilled in us by society. It is beautifully written and a pleasure to read.
Jan 14, 2009
Kim
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I've read some of bell hooks stuff before but I really really enjoyed this book. She gives my feminist inclinations solid ideas to stand on. Beautifully written. Great for female intellects.
Oct 05, 2007
Fauzia
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"I looked for love, but I found freedom. And the freedom I found changed my way of thinking about the place of love in a woman's life. I began to see that the proper place for love in a woman's life was not relational love as the source but love generated in the quest for self-realization. By claiming that quest as essential, as the proper place for love was as the solid foundation on which I would invent self and create a life. Uniting the search for love with the quest to be free was
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May 24, 2010
i read both of her memoirs a few years ago and keep thinking back to this book! re-read!
Jul 08, 2010
Mychael
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Insightful read, interesting stuff. I'm just not sure I would ascribe to it necessarily.
Jan 04, 2010
Jeanine Marie
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What an excellent and thorough examination of the rich feeling called love.
Feb 15, 2008
Heather
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On a different wave than "Captivating," this book changed my life even more. I read it at a time when I needed to learn to value my self-worth and open up to love from different people in my life. Within a month of reading it, I met my now fiance. I believe this book opens up your energy to receive the kind of love that you're looking for. You may not agree with all of bell hook's ideas (liberal), but it can reach you in the deep recesses of your soul. It helps explain why relatio
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Feb 03, 2008
Jen
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I read hooks' book, All About Love, several years ago and was a bit disappointed on her take of love. Communion: The Search for Female Love, was definitely more of what I was looking for! She talks so specifically about love in many different aspects and is always just so clear in her writing; self-love, solidarity among women, relationships, etc. This is definitely a book I will read every couple of year to remind myself of what I also think love is and can be, for myself and others.
Jul 09, 2008
Marian
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I absolutely loved this book. Regardless of whether you identify as a feminist or not, bell hooks knows how to address an entire population of women, across cultures and across generations.
One of the things that hooks talks about in this book are the ways in which women have been taught to love and how that sets us up for failure in real true love, starting with self love and spreading to romantic love, friendship love, family love, community love, etc.
One of the things that hooks talks about in this book are the ways in which women have been taught to love and how that sets us up for failure in real true love, starting with self love and spreading to romantic love, friendship love, family love, community love, etc.
Jun 10, 2008
Jenny
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I admire bell hooks' ability to convey complex, academic feminist theory in such an accessible way. This is one of two sequals to All About Love. She troubles the common feminists who have have historically prioritized achieving power over love and mutuality. I think her most interesting chapters were the two on masculinity. While I really like her accessible approach, her style is reflective and meanders a bit.
Apr 13, 2009
some people ponder the meaning of life, i ponder the meaning of love... hmm, maybe love is the meaning of life, therefore im pondering one and the same??? let me think about that..
Nov 29, 2007
Tiffany
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Still in the process of abosrbing bell hooks' insight on love and the female pursuit of happiness in a patriarchal society. Her writing is riveting and sheds light on why the pursuit of happiness can be so depleting in the process. The key to understanding the whole is figuring out where you are in the larger scheme of things...
Jan 29, 2008
Heidi
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It is extrememly important even if you think you have found the love of your life, not to rely on that one person for all of your emotional fulfillment and stimulation. It is neccessary for females to cultivate other female relationships to be healthy.....it was kind of an eye opening book to me...
