Maybe if I'd approached it with more positive energy...

I desperately wanted to love Barbara Ehrenreich's new book Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

Scratch that. Halfway through, I was hoping I could just finish Bright-Sided. This hurts me very badly to admit, because, from reading the jacket copy on this one, I REALLY wanted to love it: "Americans are a 'positive' people--cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: this is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive is the key to getting success and prosperity. Or so we are told. In this utterly original debunking, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the false promises of positive thinking..."

This is, or should have been, the book I was born to read.*

So I was very, very disappointed to find that, for much of it, I was just kind of bored. I found Ehrenreich's first chapter, on how she was diagnosed with breast cancer and immediately told that the best thing she could do would be to "stay positive" (and wear pink ribbons and attend breast cancer fundraising events), quite interesting. I could definitely see her point that that was a rather annoying thing always to be told, and I could certainly understand how sometimes she did just want to feel like she got a raw deal, and cancer sucked--rather than believing she got it for a purpose or it would make her a stronger person. But in subsequent chapters, about the history of positive thinkers (such as Norman Vincent Peale and Mary Baker Eddy), the business of motivational speakers and publishing, the linking of positivity, megachurches, and the belief that "God wants you to be rich," I just got sort of lost. I can't tell if it's because Ehrenreich took too long to say what she had to say in most chapters, or if I just wasn't responding to the organization of the chapters.

I did perk back up for the "How Positive Thinking Destroyed the Economy" chapter, which made several good points about how, when things are going good in the finance business, no one wants to sound any alarms because a) no one wants to get fired, and b) no one wants to be the one putting a damper on the party, or encouraging more cautious strategies and gains. I think she had a lot of good things to say  in that chapter, and she said them. I also found the chapter on megachurches and Joel Osteen quite informative, if not creepy. Actually, my favorite story in the book is the one in which the megachurch minister Osteen and his wife Victoria gave thanks at one of their services for the dismissal of charges against Victoria for assaulting a flight attendant:

"The incident occurred in 2005, when they boarded the first-class cabin of a flight bound for Vail, the ski resort, only to leave--or be thrown off--the plane after Victoria raised a fuss over a small 'stain' or 'spill' on the armrest of her seat. She demanded that the flight attendant remove the stain immediately, and when the flight attendant refused because she was busy helping other passengers board, Victoria insisted, allegedly attempting to enter the cockpit and complain to the pilots. Victoria ended up paying a $3,000 fine mposed by the FAA, and the matter would have ended there if the recalcitrant flight attendant had not brought suit demanding 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth in compensation for alleged injuries, including hemorrhoids and a 'loss of faith' due to her mistreatment by a leading evangelist." (p. 130.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to meet and shake the hand of the flight attendant who had the chutzpah to sue the Osteens and cite hemorrhoids as her injury.

So, does this review sound all over the place? It is, I know. But frankly, that's a little how I felt about the book. And any book that's only 206 pages long (another reason I wanted to love it) shouldn't be either boring or all over the place. I guess I'm still waiting for someone to write a better book on this subject that is near and dear to my heart.

*I have been reprimanded in so many work situations for "negative thinking"--usually when I was simply asking some pretty simple workflow questions--that I have lost count.

Comments

[Savvy Working Gal]

CR,
I am currently reading this book and feel the same way. Exposing the “Positive Thinking” industry as a scam is the type of snarky subject matter I usually can’t get enough of, but Ehrenreich isn’t pulling it off. I am half-way through and other than her analysis of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (a book I’ve never managed to finish) I keep thinking I’m bored, I don’t like how the book is organized and I just can’t connect with her. I am going to finish it though and review it myself, but what a disappointment.

[Venta]

I, too, was very interested in this book when it came out, but I saw a couple of interviews with Ehrenreich, and she only discussed her experiences with breast cancer and trying to be positive about it. I didn't even know there were other sections of the book. The Osteen story is a hoot. I may just read that chapter.

by the way, I can't count the number of times after a meeting I've had to say, "I wasn't trying to be negative about..." I probably was but it seems as if an apology is always in order or I'm not being a team player who during the meeting was asked to do something that doesn't make sense or to do more work.

[Citizen Reader]

SWG, Venta,
I was just so crushed that I didn't love this book. Savvy, I had the exact same reaction as you. Maybe the book wasn't organized at all? I can't understand it, because Ehrenreich is a skillful enough writer. Maybe it was written too quickly, and too angrily, without enough reasoning to work out a logical framework. It just seemed to wander from history to topic to personal story with no particular overarching theme. I'll look forward to your review, but man, "disappointment" is the perfect world.

Venta,
I think you'd get a real charge out of the Osteen/megachurch chapter. Actually, there's a megachurch very near me and I'm actually considering going one day to see if the service is like the ones she describes! (Just for giggles. I know. How boring is my life?)

I know you know what I mean about "negativity" at work. Ehrenreich tried to get at this too, that maybe a bit of realism or planning or question-asking or dissatisfaction is necessary sometimes to work out a better answer. I never even minded doing more work! I just wanted to know it was necessary for a reason, or would better the workplace or our service. But boom, if you ask any of those questions--not a team player! Sigh. Thankfully my latest co-worker, the cat, never gets down on me for negativity. She does ask a lot of questions about when feeding time is, though.

[sherry]

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to meet and shake the hand of the flight attendant who had the chutzpah to sue the Osteens and cite hemorrhoids as her injury."

Me, too!

[Alyce]

Ok, the part about the hemorrhoids and the Osteens was just hilarious! I don't think I would read the book just for that part though (after all, you've already told us the good stuff). :)

[Heather]

Really? I loved the book...it finally gave me something to fight back with when I get the 'negativity talk.' And confirmed, for me, why it is okay to hate (okay, maybe just really dislike and feel hugely sarcastic about) inspirational/motivational speakers.

[bybee]

I believe what you say, but I feel like I've got to give this book a go if it crosses my path.
LOL about the Osteens and the flight attendant. How could Victoria Osteen have given her hemorrhoids? Who cares!? It's funny!

[Citizen Reader]

Sherry,
We should track her down to congratulate her. I'm sorry she didn't win something for her troubles in the lawsuit, I must say.

Alyce,
There were other moments in the book--I did have four or five bookmarks stuck in it when I was done--but I still just don't know if I can tell you to read it. At least it is short...

Heather,
I'm glad you liked it. I did think some of the research she shared (particularly about the health benefits of being positive) was interesting, and no one can skewer businesses for hiring motivational speakers and career coaches like Ehrenreich can (she did that in "Bait and Switch" too), but I still feel like no one edited this book, and someone should have.

Bybee,
Hey, at 200 pages, you've got nothing to lose by trying this one. You may like it, and as noted previously, there are some wonderful tidbits in it.

I too tried to work out the hemorrhoids connection. Maybe the stress, or Osteen's demands kept her from going to the bathroom when she should have gone? Poor gal. Add "flight attendant" to the list of jobs I never want to work.

[Sarah]

Geez Louise, if anyone else had attempted to enter the cockpit of an aircraft after 9/11, they wouuld have never been seen again. Ms. Osteen got off lightly with a $3000 fine.

The word "critical" (and criticism etc) is supposed to be neutral; one can give criticism or a critical reading, but we take it to be a negative thing. We end up apologizing for being analytical. It's not NICE.

[Sarah]

Oh, and the "asking pretty simple workflow questions" - that was the problem. You are assuming that the answer was known.

[Jessica]

Bah! Will we ever like the same books? (I'm trying to practice being more negative, but man, is it tiring!)

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
Actually, that's EXACTLY the thought I had about the cockpit. I actually had to double-check the date of the incident (2005) because I couldn't believe how lightly they got off.

I do think "criticism" gets a bad rap. It shouldn't, really. With all the stuff we can produce these days (including culture, like the millions of books published every year), I think it's more important than ever. Interesting how we're all so worried about being nice in criticism but not really in taking care of our fellow human beings. Non-universal health care and war aren't NICE either but I don't see either of those subjects taking a lot of heat.

Ha, workflow questions. Freelancing doesn't pay and the benefits are terrible but at least you can take charge of your own workflow (pretty much, not always) without being branded the staff naysayer.

Oh, Jessica,
I think it's fun that we never like the same books. I feel the same way about being positive--it's exhausting, unnatural, and it just never takes. :)

[Jessica]

It takes more muscles to frown than to smile! (I read that one on a poster on my dentist's ceiling. I think it had a kitten on it).

[bybee]

My mentor teacher had this saying posted in her locker:

"It takes more muscles to smile than to give someone the finger and tell them to bite you."

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, Jessica, Bybee,

I appreciate both sentiments, really, but I have to admit that the one Bybee quotes speaks more to my soul. It's the genius addition of "and tell them to bite you" that makes me very, very happy.