Call number
BIO THU
Collections
Publication
Penguin Books (2020), 288 pages
Description
"When climate activist Greta Thunberg was eleven, her parents, Malena and Svante, and her little sister, Beata, were facing a crisis in their own home. Greta had stopped eating and speaking, and her mother and father had reconfigured their lives to care for her. Desperate and searching for answers, her parents discovered what was at the heart of Greta's distress: her imperiled future on a rapidly heating planet. Steered by Greta's determination to understand the truth and generate change, they began to see the deep connections between their own suffering and the planet's. Written by a remarkable family and told through the voice of an iconoclastic mother, Our House Is On Fire is the story of how they fought their problems at home by taking global action. And it is the story of how Greta decided to go on strike from school, igniting a worldwide rebellion." -- From back cover.… (more)
Media reviews
Piety – these days rebranded as virtue signalling – is notable in the book by its absence: "They say that climate change deniers are idiots. But everyone is a climate change denier. Every single one of us." The trolls of Greta Thunberg (whose prestigious ranks include Presidents Trump,
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Bolsonaro and Putin) are considered with an emotional intelligence that is rarely, if ever, reciprocated. The message that business as usual is the enemy is not a welcome one for those of us conducting business as usual. Far comfier to dismiss the messenger as a mentally ill brat, or the stooge of eco-fascist lizard people hellbent on establishing their own World State, than to admit culpability in ecocide. Far easier to dismiss the science as biased, as false, as "not settled". The problem is that with every swath of Australia or California burned, every never-before flooded city flooded, every hurricane of record-breaking destruction, and every Florida‑sized ice-shelf splitting off from Antarctica, the same message gets affirmed: that business as usual will roast us, drown us or starve us. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member shelleyraec
Our House Is On Fire was first published in August 2018, a few days before Greta Thunberg sat down outside the Swedish Parliament and began a solitary school strike to bring attention to the global climate crisis. However as a reprint, this particular edition includes an addendum of sorts.
It’s
“We had to write about this because we are among those who got help. We got lucky and sometimes I think that we are going to come out of this strengthened. Strengthened and whole.”
The book has a dual focus, as the subtitle suggests. It explores the family’s struggle when first Greta, and then Beata are diagnosed with a raft of neurodevelopmental disorders, Asperger’s- a high functioning form of autism, and OCD - obsessive-compulsive disorder, among them. As the family attempts to reorder their lives, they become more attuned to the disorder of the wider world, which is highlighted by a combination of anecdotes, commentary, and statistics on a variety of issues from the climate crisis to #metoo.
It’s important to know that Greta is largely a bit player in this book, Marlena’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences dominate. She writes of her role as a mother, a wife, and as a successful opera singer, she shares her struggle to advocate for her daughters wellbeing, and her own. Marlena is as passionate as her daughter about the climate crisis, but also social injustice, and she isn’t shy about demanding change.
The book’s presentation is somewhat fragmented, with a nonlinear narrative, but I found I didn’t mind that. The tone can occasionally be a little strident, but to be fair it’s no less than we deserve.
No matter what conclusions you draw about the members of the Thunberg/Ernman family the message is important. Our House Is On Fire is a challenge to examine our way of life, to support and encourage change that benefits humanity. It is a call to arms, but not a ‘how-to’ manual. It’s a warning but also reason to hope.
“We still have a chance to put everything right, and there is nothing we as people can’t achieve, if only we want to.”
It’s
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written with the cooperation of the entire family, Greta, her younger sister, Beata, and their father, Svante, but told through their mother’s, Marlena, perspective.“We had to write about this because we are among those who got help. We got lucky and sometimes I think that we are going to come out of this strengthened. Strengthened and whole.”
The book has a dual focus, as the subtitle suggests. It explores the family’s struggle when first Greta, and then Beata are diagnosed with a raft of neurodevelopmental disorders, Asperger’s- a high functioning form of autism, and OCD - obsessive-compulsive disorder, among them. As the family attempts to reorder their lives, they become more attuned to the disorder of the wider world, which is highlighted by a combination of anecdotes, commentary, and statistics on a variety of issues from the climate crisis to #metoo.
It’s important to know that Greta is largely a bit player in this book, Marlena’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences dominate. She writes of her role as a mother, a wife, and as a successful opera singer, she shares her struggle to advocate for her daughters wellbeing, and her own. Marlena is as passionate as her daughter about the climate crisis, but also social injustice, and she isn’t shy about demanding change.
The book’s presentation is somewhat fragmented, with a nonlinear narrative, but I found I didn’t mind that. The tone can occasionally be a little strident, but to be fair it’s no less than we deserve.
No matter what conclusions you draw about the members of the Thunberg/Ernman family the message is important. Our House Is On Fire is a challenge to examine our way of life, to support and encourage change that benefits humanity. It is a call to arms, but not a ‘how-to’ manual. It’s a warning but also reason to hope.
“We still have a chance to put everything right, and there is nothing we as people can’t achieve, if only we want to.”
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LibraryThing member jphamilton
With this book, written mostly by her mother, the story expands beyond Greta Thunberg, that fifteen-year-old teenager who captured the world’s attention with her school strike in front of the Swedish Parliament over our planet’s climate crisis. Many of her speeches and statements were collected
When Greta was only eight, she suddenly lost more than twenty pounds in a couple of months. By eleven, it was obvious that she had several problems, as she stopped most all eating or speaking. As her parents searched for a solution, it became clear that Greta was extremely stressed about the rapidly rising temperatures all over the planet. An entire community of medical professionals probed and tested her, and eventually she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism. As she put it in an early speech, she only spoke when it was necessary.
As a high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome person, Greta tends to see the world’s climate crisis as a very black and white situation, simply put, it’s an existential crisis—one you’re either doing everything you can about or you’re part of the problem. This B&W view, combined with her intelligence and age, made her a very powerful and clear voice to many people on the climate crisis.
At first, her parents didn’t support her activism, as it meant she was missing classes. Her mother started out extremely concerned and an activist for her daughter’s health, only to later join her daughter as a climate activist, because she knew that it meant so much to her. Malena had been a world-class opera singer, but gave up most of her career when Greta wanted the family to reduce their carbon footprint by becoming vegan, upcycling, and giving up all air travel. Her sister, Beata, also had a number of problems that concerned her parents for years. These parents are able and very willing to do so much for their very unique children.
Greta’s activism was came about after she observed the student efforts concerning gun control in the United States, after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the subsequent March for Our Lives. When she first thought of her school strike, she felt that her classmates would join her, but it wasn’t until she started getting attention online from her social media postings and news coverage, that they and others joined her.
The book is broken into short, easily digestible sections, and this family’s story of dedication is so unique and fascinating that it’s a compelling read. It’s incredibly moving to get a sense of how much Greta cares about the climate crisis, and also how the usual rhetorical responses quickly collapses in front of her unforgiving logic. Hell, it’s our only planet.
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in Greta’s book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, and now we learn more about her and her family’s story. The family unit is made of Greta and her dad, Avante Thunberg, and her mother and sister, Malena and Beata Ernman. When Greta was only eight, she suddenly lost more than twenty pounds in a couple of months. By eleven, it was obvious that she had several problems, as she stopped most all eating or speaking. As her parents searched for a solution, it became clear that Greta was extremely stressed about the rapidly rising temperatures all over the planet. An entire community of medical professionals probed and tested her, and eventually she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism. As she put it in an early speech, she only spoke when it was necessary.
As a high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome person, Greta tends to see the world’s climate crisis as a very black and white situation, simply put, it’s an existential crisis—one you’re either doing everything you can about or you’re part of the problem. This B&W view, combined with her intelligence and age, made her a very powerful and clear voice to many people on the climate crisis.
At first, her parents didn’t support her activism, as it meant she was missing classes. Her mother started out extremely concerned and an activist for her daughter’s health, only to later join her daughter as a climate activist, because she knew that it meant so much to her. Malena had been a world-class opera singer, but gave up most of her career when Greta wanted the family to reduce their carbon footprint by becoming vegan, upcycling, and giving up all air travel. Her sister, Beata, also had a number of problems that concerned her parents for years. These parents are able and very willing to do so much for their very unique children.
Greta’s activism was came about after she observed the student efforts concerning gun control in the United States, after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the subsequent March for Our Lives. When she first thought of her school strike, she felt that her classmates would join her, but it wasn’t until she started getting attention online from her social media postings and news coverage, that they and others joined her.
The book is broken into short, easily digestible sections, and this family’s story of dedication is so unique and fascinating that it’s a compelling read. It’s incredibly moving to get a sense of how much Greta cares about the climate crisis, and also how the usual rhetorical responses quickly collapses in front of her unforgiving logic. Hell, it’s our only planet.
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LibraryThing member arewenotben
Interesting family autobiography, largely from Greta's mother Malena (a celebrity in her own right in Sweden as an ex-Opera singer). Learning the full background to Greta Thunberg's rise to international prominence is made all the more amazing considering her struggles with Asperger's Syndrome made
The more didactic elements discussing the climate crisis are enlightening but didn't really feel like they fitted in well with the rest of the somewhat fragmentary book.
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her almost mute and virtually unable to eat not long before her school climate strike in Sweden.The more didactic elements discussing the climate crisis are enlightening but didn't really feel like they fitted in well with the rest of the somewhat fragmentary book.
Show Less
ISBN
0143133578 / 9780143133575