Reviews for Ripped and torn

The average rating for Ripped and torn based on 4 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-05-17 00:00:00 Ira Belfer Amaranta Wright's "Ripped & Torn" is an exceptionally juvenile parody of far more thoughtful, interesting jeremiads on the perils of globalization. The vapid commentary is masked, on the paperback version, by excerpts from critics -- including quotes attributed to many of London's papers -- that appear to indicate that the book is somehow informative or meaningful. It is not. Instead, Ms. Wright's book is an unfortunate exercise in arrogance that allows a self-described Oxford alum to manipulate complex individuals and histories into petty caricatures that happen (just happen) to line up with her world view. If it wasn't so painful to read, it would otherwise be an excellent companion to Damian Thompson's "Counterknowledge." Many of Ripped & Torn's political observations read like left-wing fairy tales for moralists that have no time to actually learn anything about the world which is not good enough for them. As a general matter, I am reluctant to criticize personal memoirs, but the author's disdain for many of the people with whom she has interacted is simultaneously coupled with humorless sanctimony in a toxic swill that demeans all of the book's subjects and its readers. Anyone with even the slightest sense of critical thinking might question how one might decry the death of unique cultures throughout various Latin American metropoleis while, at the exact same time (at points sometime in the next breath) lionize angry anti-imperialist artists that want to bring their message to the world through rap music. In this book, the conspiracy theories of the disenfranchised are presented as fact (presumably because taking the time to research the actual claims made would reduce the number of experiences that a glorified tourist could have), and everything needed to fix what ails Central and South America can be learned in a few weeks by a member of the gentry that temporarily and occasionally casts off her birthright to mix among the great unwashed. The book is so ludicrously overwrought that Ms. Wright equates marketing for brand name products (the satanic practice that facilitated Ms. Wright's travels) are equated with wardens that sell narcotics to their captives; Ford is indicted for its crimes against the people of South America while the virtues of Pablo Escobar are afforded full consideration; Castro's Cuba is characterized as no more repressive than the corporatized west. This jejune polemic is not wholly without merit. As a travelogue, Ms. Wright effectively introduces, in some detail, some of the more vibrant neighborhoods of the cities she got significant compensation for visiting. And for those that actually sacrifice in the name of love for their fellow man, Ripped & Torn stands as a useful cautionary tale for what happens when you start taking yourself too seriously.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-23 00:00:00 Mike Westen This is one of those books that makes you think hard on the evils,corporate globalization has had on the rest of the world. It takes you inside the Latin American countries and shows you how weak,impoverished people living in these countries are and how they have been subjected to massacre and genocide owing to political ambitions of the joint nexus between the corporate and the political mafia.It is somehow on the lines of John Perkin's 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman'.It's a must read for people trying to peak into socio-economic and geopolitical conditions inside the countries part of South America. Amaranta has been candid about it.Every word smells true.

Review # 3 was written on 2009-05-17 00:00:00 Dan Dems Amaranta Wright's "Ripped & Torn" is an exceptionally juvenile parody of far more thoughtful, interesting jeremiads on the perils of globalization. The vapid commentary is masked, on the paperback version, by excerpts from critics -- including quotes attributed to many of London's papers -- that appear to indicate that the book is somehow informative or meaningful. It is not. Instead, Ms. Wright's book is an unfortunate exercise in arrogance that allows a self-described Oxford alum to manipulate complex individuals and histories into petty caricatures that happen (just happen) to line up with her world view. If it wasn't so painful to read, it would otherwise be an excellent companion to Damian Thompson's "Counterknowledge." Many of Ripped & Torn's political observations read like left-wing fairy tales for moralists that have no time to actually learn anything about the world which is not good enough for them. As a general matter, I am reluctant to criticize personal memoirs, but the author's disdain for many of the people with whom she has interacted is simultaneously coupled with humorless sanctimony in a toxic swill that demeans all of the book's subjects and its readers. Anyone with even the slightest sense of critical thinking might question how one might decry the death of unique cultures throughout various Latin American metropoleis while, at the exact same time (at points sometime in the next breath) lionize angry anti-imperialist artists that want to bring their message to the world through rap music. In this book, the conspiracy theories of the disenfranchised are presented as fact (presumably because taking the time to research the actual claims made would reduce the number of experiences that a glorified tourist could have), and everything needed to fix what ails Central and South America can be learned in a few weeks by a member of the gentry that temporarily and occasionally casts off her birthright to mix among the great unwashed. The book is so ludicrously overwrought that Ms. Wright equates marketing for brand name products (the satanic practice that facilitated Ms. Wright's travels) are equated with wardens that sell narcotics to their captives; Ford is indicted for its crimes against the people of South America while the virtues of Pablo Escobar are afforded full consideration; Castro's Cuba is characterized as no more repressive than the corporatized west. This jejune polemic is not wholly without merit. As a travelogue, Ms. Wright effectively introduces, in some detail, some of the more vibrant neighborhoods of the cities she got significant compensation for visiting. And for those that actually sacrifice in the name of love for their fellow man, Ripped & Torn stands as a useful cautionary tale for what happens when you start taking yourself too seriously.

Review # 4 was written on 2013-12-23 00:00:00 Kimberly Shickel This is one of those books that makes you think hard on the evils,corporate globalization has had on the rest of the world. It takes you inside the Latin American countries and shows you how weak,impoverished people living in these countries are and how they have been subjected to massacre and genocide owing to political ambitions of the joint nexus between the corporate and the political mafia.It is somehow on the lines of John Perkin's 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman'.It's a must read for people trying to peak into socio-economic and geopolitical conditions inside the countries part of South America. Amaranta has been candid about it.Every word smells true.