I had zero knowledge of Simone de Beauvoir other than hearing her name now and then. This book not only made me interested in some of her work, but I gained so much value from the lessons Cleary pulls from Beauvoir’s work. What made this book great is that it’s maybe 40-50% biography, but the rest is analyzing Beauvoir’s ideas and explaining them with real-world examples. Cleary pulls from some personal stories such as her experience being a woman or about marriage, and she also explains how Beauvoir's ideas can be applied to modern-day activism and other situations. It’s also great because as much as Cleary respects Beauvoir’s work, she discusses some of Beauvoir’s controversial or outdated views as well.

This book is phenomenal, and I haven’t gained this much value from a book in a while. I’ll definitely be re-reading it, and it deserves a ton of attention once it launches.