What do you think?
Rate this book
Who does not envy with us is against us: three essays on being working-class
Who does not envy with us is against us is a collection of essays on working-classness that demonstrates Maria Fusco's exceptional talent for weaving together the analytical and the poetic to create an affecting and profound work. With expressive prose, Fusco deftly captures the experiences of the global working class, illuminating emotions that unite them across borders and lines. This is a tribute to the resilience and tenacity of working-class communities, and an invitation to readers to join in a deeper understanding of their struggles and triumphs. Through her masterful storytelling, Fusco utilises the power of language to elevate the voices of those who have long been silenced, creating a symphony of words that will echo long after the final page.
38 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2023
52 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 27, 2025
Don’t be put off by the shortness of this book, it is full of diamonds. Not the sort you wear as a brooch but more like those in a drill that bores through geological strata.
Her prose has the punch you might expect from somebody who grew up in the midst of the troubles in the poorest area of Belfast.
The first text deals with some of the big signifiers of working class ness - where you live, what you eat and what ringtone you use. She suggests working class Ness as a method … tantalisingly doesn’t elaborate.
The second section: How come she’s such a good writer when she just watched television when she was young? (apart from the local Republican newspaper An Phloblacht which had to be burnt after reading)
“I am sudden with the cities’s words, I was surrounded by plenty of these, understanding their immense power, in a shy, inchoate way."
She looks at an example in detail remembering one of her mother‘s most compelling insults. Sorry you have to get the book!
The third and final section deals with envy - envy as a mood.
“Understanding envy as a mood is helpful for thinking around class because of its ambience, atavistic nature.“
An original and provocative analysis of what those of us who work in middle class zones of employment have to deal with on a daily basis
Her prose has the punch you might expect from somebody who grew up in the midst of the troubles in the poorest area of Belfast.
The first text deals with some of the big signifiers of working class ness - where you live, what you eat and what ringtone you use. She suggests working class Ness as a method … tantalisingly doesn’t elaborate.
The second section: How come she’s such a good writer when she just watched television when she was young? (apart from the local Republican newspaper An Phloblacht which had to be burnt after reading)
“I am sudden with the cities’s words, I was surrounded by plenty of these, understanding their immense power, in a shy, inchoate way."
She looks at an example in detail remembering one of her mother‘s most compelling insults. Sorry you have to get the book!
The third and final section deals with envy - envy as a mood.
“Understanding envy as a mood is helpful for thinking around class because of its ambience, atavistic nature.“
An original and provocative analysis of what those of us who work in middle class zones of employment have to deal with on a daily basis
July 3, 2025
A pleasant wee book to read on shift but just a pity it’s so brief. I get it but didn’t necessarily fuck with it. I liked the voice, and the titular essay, but don’t have much to say otherwise. Good tho
October 10, 2024
Exceptional.
December 3, 2023
fucking outstanding
just as excellent read as spoken
just as excellent read as spoken
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews