Hey, Hilary!  Sorry about the lateness of this review*, but here it is.

So, this isn’t really a formal, detailed review of The Price of Privilege so much as it is just a random assessment of first thoughts and feelings after having finished the book.

Did I like it?  Yes.  Did I think it was useful?  I do.

Dr. Levine has an easy, accessible reading style that made this book not so much a text as it is an educated confessional, like hearing the straight dope from a literate, yet easygoing, best friend.

I don’t want to say the book wasn’t my cup of tea.  I’d rather say it was an enlightening look at people and situations I normally wouldn’t have considered worth my time and attention.  Their problems certainly are real, if somewhat unrelatable (at least in my experience).  But that’s why we read, right?  To explore situations and ideas we normally wouldn’t otherwise come in contact with.

I found the discussion of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting fascinating.  I’m still trying to identify where my childhood lines up within these styles.  I’d like to think that it encompassed all of these styles at one time or another—definitely authoritarian with my father and ex-stepfather; sometimes permissive and occasionally authoritative with my mother (though she could be authoritarian at times).

The whole idea that material wealth and social standing can often leave those parents and children without real connection and the ability to form authentic selves really resonated with me.  Although Dr. Levine emphasized the importance having mothers with interests, adult friendships, and connections outside of their immediate families as a way to offer their children well-balanced, healthy parents who wouldn’t be over- or under-involved with their children, I thought maybe she could have made the connection that fathers (in families with a mother and father, with more than one father, or only a father) should do the same.  That’s a very minor quibble, however.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in an underappreciated area of psychological research.

I may have more to say about this book as I haven’t fully examined my thoughts and reactions.

Your thoughts?

* Also posted at Love, Joy, Feminism.