Customer Reviews

Communion: The Female Search for Love

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have read journal articles by bell hooks, but this is the first book I have read of hers. It won't be my last book by her.

Communion: The Female Search for Love is part memoir, part challenge, and very thoughtprovoking.

One aspect I liked best was her debunking of the myth of "women who love too much." Another center of focus is the effect of gainful employment on the perceptions of love.

Her language is direct and clear, but not simplistic.

This is a very good book, and one that I hope will be widely read and discussed.

Even though her subtitle is "The Female Search for Love," men can learn from this worthwhile book, if they have the courage to read it.

This might be an excellent choice for a book group.

And for a reader who is not hip to feminist thought or lit, this is a good soft entry. I enjoyed bell hooks analogies and statements regarding that women do seek love in so many ways and her most important point was that many women do not receive non-sexual love from men, which is necessary for balance in life, thus forcing them to seek it in so many other ways.

This book encouraged me to read and understand other bell hooks books that are phenomenal. I respect hooks for offering a wide spectrum on emotions, and reality

Communion is a discussion and legitimization of the pursuit of love from a mid-life feminist perspective. Hooks believes that the desire to understand how love works is a serious, important, and ultimately joyful life-work activity that should be studied and taught. The big question she attempts to answer is how to "find, keep, and make love despite the power of patriarchy."

The best part of this book is that Hooks always tells the truth as she sees it. There is no glossing over or contriving to make a point. Sometimes her language is sexually explicit and blunt. She explains love from the perspective of her own personal life experience and through intelligent observation and study of our culture and gender practices. The impact of the feminist movement is woven through her assessment. Unlike many other feminists, however, Hook's voice is not militant.

There is only one caution. The ever-present temptation for Hooks and for all of us is to find excuses why we cannot find love or be loving. From the ego's perspective, there is always a so-called justifiable reason for the rejection of another. In this case, the justifiable reason is patriarchy. However, unconditional love means that we undo the hate inour minds and extend love no matter what distressing disguise is presented to us.

Simply wonderful. Covers not only romantic, familial, and friendly relationships but focuses on the heart of the matter: women loving and respecting ourselves. Choosing appropriate relationships and nurturing them is only one part of that more important aim. bell hooks urges us to focus on being complete within ourselves - difficult for all women in our culture, particularly so for women of color.

Her observations are wise. Her grasp of history is absolute. Her ideas stimulate intelligent and loving thought, conversation, and action. Read this book.

I have to admit that I was both surprised and pleased by this body of work. This book is the best out of the love trilogy. She challenges women to dare to love beyond the romantic/sex paradigm. Also, she is brutally honest about how hard it is to find a partner who is truly unshackled from the chains of domination. Kudos to bell for writing on a very complicated topic: love.

This is about the second work that I have read by Ms. hooks, and I wasn't disappointed. In this work, she talks about the things females do for love, and how it costs us. She talked about her mother, who would gang up with her dad and belittle her for reading, then outside of the father's presence, she would praise her for reading, and try to placate her when the damage was already done. or when she was with her partner and whenever the partner had a good employment opportunity, the author would willingly go, but when the author got a similar opportunity of her own, the partner was unwilling to go. Personally, I feel we as women sacrifice a lot in the name of love. We are usually the first to change, to adapt, to mold, and go along with the program. To me that is not love. I feel that Ms. hooks wrote the book from a feminist and womanist standpoint, and her points were valid. Amazon.com said that this book would make a great Valentine's present for someone single. I agree. Get this book and grow.

bell hooks blew me away with All About Love and Salvation. Communion, however, left me wanting more. Although it was written in the typical bell hooks fashion -- I love her writing style, Communion didn't have the same passion, spirit and overall power that the previous two books had. I did like the way she weaved her own self into the topic. By doing so, she makes the reader feel closer to her and helps them relate better to their own search for love.

I consider myself to be a huge bell hooks fan, but this book wasn't doing it for me. Usually, I can reading her cover to cover in a day and a half, but this time I find myself just barely picking through this. It's odd that her book "Salvation" on blacks and love was more interesting and only half the size of this tome. bell prides herself on bringing up race, class, and gender issues simultaneously, yet race and class drop to the wayside here. (To her credit, age and sexual orientation is brought up often.) I think readers unfamiliar with her work are going to be put off by her constant pointing to patriarchy and her continual assessment of feminism as a key aspect in women's search for love. Usually, bell has something brilliant to say in every chapter, and this time, I can't quote much that made me say, "Ahh! Good point!" bell can't really write bad books, it's just that this one did not blow me away like her previous texts.

I have recommended this book to all those women in my life who have sold out to the patriarchal values in American culture because I want them to find communion with a more enlightened man and not settle for anything less.

This is my first bell hook's book. I think her book "Communion: The Female Search for Love" is good but a little weak on the feminism and radicalism she is noted for. Unfortunately, I find that some of her suggestions regarding how to find love may or may not be really helpful. Maybe this works for her but it may not work for others.

Most women who are in my age group (late twenties or thirties) find that men are emotionally draining as well as emotionally witholding. Also, I have found that most men enjoy the idea of having alternative relationships with women because it offers them benefits without the costs of investment in any one woman (hooks refers to this concept too). Busy women, like myself, don't have time to invest in men who are not providing value. Women need to concentrate on the power they do have - negotiation. Saying to a male partner, "You give me what I want, and maybe you'll get what you want from me" is still an approriate method for social interaction.