From the individual shadow to collective, ancestral and cultural

Naomi Klein, a Jewish Canadian writer with progressive, radical views has written several popular and incisive books critiquing capitalism. For example , The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, This Changes Everything : Capitalism versus The Climate, and No Logo. Her viewpoint is collectivist, unifying, humanitarian, egalitarian, feminist, socialist.

Another slightly older Naomi, Naomi Wolf, also a feminist, also Jewish, American, wrote, back in the early 90’s an influential book called The Beauty Myth : How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women.

Wolf, however, over the years, has moved far far rightwards. She has got into ideological beds with any number of conspiracy theorist and far right demagogues. In fact, her identity is now regularly described not as ‘writer and journalist’ but AS conspiracy theorist. Antivaxxer, sharing platforms with Steve Bannon, spouting out unsubstantiated fake news, party to all those Trumpian inanities, insanities.

The original impetus for Klein’s extremely well written, reflective, and incisively argued book, came out of a general mangling of the identities of two very different Naomis in the collective consciousness. A proliferation of social media confusion, misinformation and mangling, with each successive outrageous Wolf misinformation and inflammatory pronouncement leading to shocked responses by the Twitterati and others at the latest dangerous and completely ‘fake news’ shocker from KLEIN. When it was never Klein, but Wolf.

Almost as if two completely different Naomis couldn’t exist. ‘Bad’ Naomi conflated with ‘Good’ Naomi. Naomi Hyde (Wolf) and Naomi Jekyll (Klein) This took her to look at the mirror image, ‘mirror world’ What was that mirror world Wolf now occupies, what is its origin, where did this particular warp view arise from

Klein began to think of, of the idea of the ‘Doppelganger’ in a much more interesting, less personal, collective way. What is our individual shadow, unacknowledged, and what is our collective, unacknowledged shadow.

Towards the latter half of the book is where this really became rigorous and incisive for me, with the tracing back of a particularly European history of exploration, colonisation, building of Empire, and displacement of indigenous people, built on the premise those peoples were lesser, than the colonisers.

Reading this book during October 2023 it has seemed ever more darkly pertinent and prescient. The powerful tell themselves stories about themselves being more, others being less, to justify the taking of land. And, as a species, this also affects our views of the planet and the other species which inhabit it.

I do think that some of what is covered in this book, particularly the analysis of ‘Doppelganger’ in relationship to Philip Roth’s writing, could have been excised, or at least, edited. For me, it is the latter part of the book which is the nub or nugget, and really is the main thrust. Till reaching this, I sometimes was somewhat wearied by what seemed highways and byways, rather than main road and destination

Nonetheless, a sobering and necessary read

The basic concept of the novel seemed interesting and i was intrigued to know how it would develop. However, I was so frustrated by the number of missing letters in the pre-publication copy kindly supplied through Netgalley that I found it difficult to concentrate on the text - I was having to guess at words every few lines.. I have given three stars on the basis of the underlying idea.

I'm not going to be able to do this book any justice in this review, you just need to read it!

I found Doppelganger to be a rather eye opening book in the end. I went into this expecting a comparison between the two Naomi's, and came out with understanding on how people change political stances seemingly overnight. It helped to educate me on the causes of these changes, and how often times the things they believe are mirrored by real events that happened.

It felt like quite a mash up of many different events at one point, however everything links in so well and makes sense by the end of the book.

Overall, I recommend this to anyone who wants to understand how easily the general population can jump from being relatively 'normal' people to becoming extremely polarised anti-vaxers, racists, and anti-government.

A fascinating book, which covers many of the most urgent questions of our time, in particular the ills of social media allowing everybody to be an instant expert on the basis of no strong evidence for whatever arguments they choose to make, and the connected ills of capitalism and profit at all costs. Although I don’t agree with everything she says I found it thought provoking and compelling.

Doppelgänger is a fascinating exploration of Canadian author & journalist Naomi Klein’s experiences of being mistaken for American author & journalist Naomi Wolf throughout her career, and how problematic that has become for her since the latter became a full-blown Right Wing anti-vax conspiracy theorist during the Covid pandemic. Klein relates her own views while examining the role of doppelgängers in the arts and literature and how the struggle to maintain a genuine persona in the media, and especially online, becomes almost impossible when your social media “twin” holds views almost diametrically opposed to yours.

It seems I’m not the only one who had heard of both Naomi’s as writers of a series of provocative best-selling non-fiction books, but not registered they were two different people! It’s understandable - they’re similar ages, both Jewish, both strikingly good looking, writing similar kinds of books, albeit on very different topics. I read Naomi Wolf’s debut book, The Beauty Myth last year, and found it illuminating if rather dated - it was first published in 1991. Conversely I had not read any of Klein’s books, but was aware of No Logo (published in 2002) as it has appeared on multiple Top 100 lists. I am now more keen to read it even if I find her far left politics irrational (for context, by New Zealand standards I’m definitely right of centre, but in the US I’d definitely be a Democrat.) I did know that Wolf had moved on from feminism to become a buffoonish alt-right caricature, but didn’t realise quite how bad things were.

This is a long book which took me over two weeks to finish. It isn’t quite as long as the ebook appears, however, as the last 16% is all references, acknowledgements and an index. My copy was particularly hard to read because the ARC copy I received had an unusual formatting glitch throughout that left out almost all letter clusters involving f or th, and some others, so deciphering the text was like figuring out word puzzles. I’m sure this will have been fixed for the final version, although I was only approved post-publication so you would think the publisher could’ve sent a corrected copy. Maybe it’s an anti-piracy thing, but I haven’t come across it before and haven’t seen other reviewers mention it. Not a good reading experience!

Despite this challenge, I enjoyed Klein’s insights on a variety of important and topical global issues.
It does come across as self-indulgent, a bit hypocritical and at times self-pitying, and unfortunately we never find out what Wolf thinks about their weird non-relationship, but unless you’re from one of the groups she criticises mercilessly, or a Trumpet, in which case you’d hate it, it’s well worth a read.
4.5 for originality, forthright thinking and opening my mind to some concepts I’d never considered before.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Doppelgänger is available now.

I started reading the NetGalley ARC only to end up buying the paperback before I was halfway through. This is an urgent, important book of ideas, and while it may not be as earth-shatteringly eye-opening (at least for me!) as No Logo, or (particularly) Shock Doctrine, it is still smart and cohesive, making more sense of things as they are, and those things are uncanny and wrong. Klein uses the once-common confusion that made people mix her up with Naomi Wolf to talk about the alliance between various ostensibly non-fascist, ostensibly far-from-fascist groups and discourses with the far right - from crunchy parenting and tradwifing to wellness and pseudo-ecological groups, to (post)feminists and terfs, there are people for whom individualism and belief in their own supremacy (inherent or achieved, often located in the [detoxified] body) makes a movement to the right an appealing fit, and that's how precious time is lost that we should be using to save the planet. This book manages to be funny at times, personal and clever, and reading it is reassuring in a way - that you're not wrong to see this, and that the unexplainable redpilling is explainable, and even, maybe, that some could be brought back from the mirror world.

I really appreciated it, and I'm glad Klein keeps working hard to change and improve the world.

Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein

Do we all have doubles of ourselves? The internal thinking persona and the external one we project to others. Our real selves and our virtual social media identities. What if there was a real life person with a very similar profile to you; active in media, commentary political discussion but with very differing views to you? Your profile is so similar that people often confuse the two of you. You are painted with each others sometimes opposing views.

These are some of he ideas explored in this book. Although the concepts are fascinating, the book feels long and I wonder whether it would be enjoyed more if read in sections rather than reading the whole book in one go.

Naomi Klein’s latest book Doppelganger represents a departure from her previous works, focusing on a highly personal subject at a time when she is eager to delve into another book about climate change. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to analysing Naomi Klein's frequent experiences of being mistaken for Naomi Wolf, the author of The Beauty Myth who has recently been fervently advocating the anti-vax movement and various conspiracy theories. Klein frequently refers to Wolf throughout the book as Other Naomi, while emphasising the striking similarities between their names, appearances, and even their partners' names, which have compounded the persistent issue of misidentification. Initially a source of embarrassment for Klein, this case of mistaken identity later evolved into an existential threat to her personal brand, echoing the themes explored in her acclaimed book No Logo.

The misattribution has caused considerable discomfort for Klein, particularly on social media during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when much of our activities shifted online. There were instances where the Other Naomi made offensive statements to netizens, prompting people to criticise Klein for things she never actually said. It was during this period that the concept of doppelgänger entered Klein's consciousness, providing an entirely new subject matter to explore. While Naomi Wolf plays a prominent role in this book, it is not solely about her. Instead, she serves as a case study through which Klein elucidates the phenomenon of individuals existing as doppelgängers, particularly as they are perceived by others.

The book meticulously traces Naomi Wolf's transformation from a feminist icon to a controversial figure associated with conspiracy theories, examining pivotal moments that have defined her trajectory. From her seminal work on feminism in the 1990s to her perplexing assertions about vaccines and geoengineered skies, Wolf's transition from mainstream media to her current platform on Steve Bannon's far-right podcast, War Room, offers a compelling case study on the current state of society and media. At times, the narrative appears to cast aspersions on Wolf, interrogating her journey from a prominent feminist author of her generation to a conspiracy theorist who has been de-platformed by Twitter seven times.

Klein's narrative provides a thought-provoking perspective, dissecting not only the personal challenges arising from mistaken identity but also the broader implications of conspiracy theories, misinformation, and the allure of right-wing populism for many individuals. This exploration becomes even more pertinent given the failure of left-wing politicians to provide significant policy guidance during the challenging period of the recent pandemic. Klein delves deep into the mechanisms that propel individuals towards embracing conspiratorial beliefs, highlighting how narcissism, coupled with social media addiction and midlife crises, can often lead to ideological shifts, frequently to the right. While this equation provides valuable insights, Klein carefully refrains from psychoanalysing her doppelgänger, instead focusing more on the sociological dimensions of the issue. Her analysis of the Mirrors World also draws from a diverse range of literature, prominently featuring Philip Roth's Operation Shylock: A Confession.

One of the book's standout features is Klein's contemplation of the commonalities she discovered between her left-leaning beliefs and certain aspects of right-wing populism while listening to Steve Bannon's podcast, a perspective that her peers on the left simply dismissed as irrelevant to their collective work. Her candid admission that "game recognises game" offers a nuanced understanding of how populist messaging can resonate across the political spectrum. Overall, I find the book to be insightful, providing a pertinent exploration of questions related to identity, conspiracy theories, and the cultural shifts that influence our understanding of the world.

With thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

It’s not a genre I’d normally choose, but the premise intrigued me. Unfortunately I found it a bit of a slog. An introspective whinge, and self indulgent parallels drawn.

The author touches on deep topics, from climate change to the holocaust, and the dichotomy that makes up humanity. I feel she labours the point in far too many pages that people are basically non-binary and can’t comfortably fit in a box. That people like us aren’t always like us.

Some good points made and I even highlighted a couple, but regrettably I was counting the pages until the end of a book that was several thousand words too long.

Having never heard of Naomi Klein outside of the Wolf/Klein mix ups that happen on Twitter fairly regularly, I was intrigued by the premise of this book - a whole exploration of why and how the two women are mixed up, as well as an analysis of the far-right rabbit holes we are pushed towards online, and the untold damage that they've done to Western society? Sign me up. Klein more than delivered on my expectations and I absolutely ate this book up - it's both fascinating and terrifying.

Naomi Wolf and Naomi Klein are two Jewish women who made their names in the early 90s after writing books filled with big ideas. Smash-cut to 2023 and Naomi Wolf is a prominent anti-vaccine, anti-COVID, gun-toting conspiracy theorist, worlds away from her previous incarnation. What led Wolf here? is the question Klein becomes obsessed with, especially as the entire internet decides to mix them up, over and over again. So Klein takes a trip into the "mirror world" that has infected our politics and our whole society, a darker world of ours that runs on conspiracy and fear. To do this, she effectively and entertainingly uses the figure of the doppelganger - a spooky season favourite - as well as wide-ranging and clever analysis of the world today. And wide-ranging is the word! This book takes on so much, and is largely convincing in its arguments. But it is nuanced, too' Klein avoids easy answers, often referring back to the horrors of late capitalism to illustrate her arguments. One that stuck in my head was the idea of an anti-COVID vaccine person being mistrustful of a COVID vaccine simply - and upsettingly - because it is free.

Klein explores power structures, colonialisation, the dark underbelly of our comfortable lives in the west, and the creeping rise of facism in this work. One chapter that stuck with me was towards the end, about how ‘mirroring’ manifests itself in Israel and Palestine, something that felt powerful to read then, but even more so now, mere weeks since I've read it. Klein is an outspoken critic of Israel and I found this chapter some of the most valuable analysis in the book.

Peppered with dark humour and pop culture references, Doppelganger was surprsingly fun to read and never felt overly academic or difficult to read. It does, however, feel like a book we'll look back on as a warning. A fantastic read.

Multifaceted and fascinating: after reading this, I wondered how many of us are being doppelgangered. This extraordinary exploration of our world, draws on literature, theatre, films, social media and modern politics, not to mention conspiracy theories, to describe a mirror world leaves one decidedly uncomfortable. Dark humour nudges some of the darkness away, whilst nudging readers out of their comfort zones. The question of whether far too many formerly sensible people have fallen or jumped into the rabbit hole is timely, provocative and worthy of further dissection. The pace and energy of Naomi Klein’s writing is a joy, whether you agree with her assertions or not.

The premise for Naomi Klein's 'Doppelganger' is intriguing: over recent years, Klein has increasingly found herself being confused with Naomi Wolf, the previously liberal feminist writer and academic who has now become a leading anti-vaxxer and made common cause with the likes of Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson in order to spout her outlandish claims. Klein decides to follow her doppelganger into the 'Mirror World' to see how such a transformation could have come about and what this reveals about the issues facing our world today.

This may sound like a very different book from those for which Klein has become famous (The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, On Fire). Initially Klein is almost embarrassed at the extent of her obsession with Wolf and the hours and hours of her content that she is consuming. There is something darkly comic about Klein's predicament, and she is amusingly withering about some of Wolf's most outrageous ideas ("That is not how lipid nanoparticles work. That is not how vaccines work. It is not how anything works. Also, and I can't quite believe I am typing these words, vaccinated people still smell like humans.") But this is much more than a take-down of her fellow Naomi - instead, drawing on a wide variety of doppelganger literature, Klein rigorously interrogates our assumptions to offer a wide-ranging analysis of how our world has got to the state that it is in, and what we can do now.

Klein avoids easy answers - for instances she pushes back against the label 'conspiracy theorist' to describe Wolf since, as she points out, the term does nothing to distinguish between invented and real conspiracies, and there are plenty of the latter, particularly the way that 'Power and wealth conspire to protect themselves'. Klein returns to familiar territory in her dissection of late capitalism and its predication on 'sacrificial people and sacrificial ecologies and sacrificial continents'. Describing her approach as "pattern recognition", she discusses white supremacy, colonisation and fascism in the many forms they have existed throughout history, but also invites us to confront the ways that we might all be complicit in these even if we claim to oppose them. This makes for challenging and uncomfortable reading at times, but Klein offers hope that an alternative might be possible through collective action.

This is a powerful, fascinating and urgent book which offers compelling arguments about the state of our world. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

On the face of it this book explores what it is like to have a doppelganger. In this case it is not someone who looks like the other, but that a significant number of people think actually is the other person.
In this well researched, well thought out book, Naomi Klein (or was it Naomi Wolf) builds a structured argument about what is actually meant by a doppelganger.
This includes examples from literature, and from modern life.
It is no point trying to work out where Naomi is going with the argument, as she is just as likely to go full circle as plough straight ahead.
What the author does do is always give well structured arguments and reasoning in why she says what she does, and what she was thinking at the time.
A remarkable book in every way, even better than I expected from the author.
Thank you to the author for a book that makes the reader think deeply.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy for honest review.

In many ways a typical Naomi Klein book in that it examines the power structures and limitations of leftist activism, but also a deeply personal one examining the author’s relationship with her own ‘doppelganger’, Naomi Wolf, a fellow leftist feminist cultural critic who has gone from writing The Beauty Myth to being a regular guest on Steve Bannon’s podcast, spouting COVID-19 conspiracy theories among others. Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf found their careers converging during the Occupy Wall Street protests, where they’d frequently be confused for the other, and have since nosedived into vastly different territory. Klein explores the conspiracy theory pipeline of ‘the mirror world’ and how dangerous it can be - familiar territory if you’re, like me, a frequent consumer of podcasts like QAnonAnonymous and Death Panel. If you know you know. Klein does, and I guess she adds a sheen of intelligence to the whole thing that Travis View just can’t, but it also got me thinking about how I feel I processed the pandemic very differently in the UK than people in the US and Canada did, and it’s woefully under-explored at the moment. Blame it on stiff-upper-lip repression, but I just kind of hate how the only way the UK is processing the pandemic is through Channel 4 dramatisations of Partygate at the moment. But the book transforms later on with a detailed and poignant exploration of how ‘mirroring’ manifests itself in Israel and Palestine, something that felt especially powerful to read now, and a reminder of how refreshing (and rare) it can feel in lefty circles to actually get Jewish perspectives on Israel at all.

Very interesting book. Always wondered what it be like to know or meet my doppelganger.
This book is such an interesting read on how it can really affect your life. Not my usual book but found the whole idea of it actually happening fascinating.

Thanks to the author,the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.

Really interesting story, very well written! Not what I’d usually choose but glad to took a chance and I’d definitely read other books by this author too.

People occasionally confused Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf. It wasn't a big problem. That is, until their views diverged in an increasingly extreme way. As Wolf became more vocal, getting the two Naomis confused became more frequent. I saw this on Twitter myself! Doppelganger is Klein's attempt to understand Wolf's trajectory and the political and cultural shift which has been accelerated by Covid.

I thought this book was a fascinating look at the state of affairs mainly focussed on USA/Canada. Klein's consideration was broad reaching, taking the reader on a journey from politics, feminism, race, religion and health.

Klein's ability to unpick how the current order differs from traditional left/right politics, how it works and what it gets right was cogent, thoughtful and astute. It was clear-eyed analysis. I would also disagree with other reviews than Klein was unkind or defamatory. Doppelganger focuses on the facts and where opinion or theory is offered, Klein was generous (eg. Bannon's ability to focus on what people agree on, rather than what they don't)

I also enjoyed when Klein brought humour into the book, acknowledging the absurdity the situation without making light.

Pick this book up if: you ask yourself 'how did we get here?'

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest views.

Really enjoying this book, but the formatting isn't working on my Kindle and lots of letters are missing.

I requested this book believing it to be fiction then stopped reading it for a while and then picked it back up again.
When Naomi Kline is mistaken on many occasions for another writer, Naomi Wolf, she is intrigued as to why and investigates. She writes about economics while her ’doppelganger’ writes about feminism. She discovers the rise of conspiracy theories and the impact of AI, in the digital world, on people who are dissatisfied with their lives. It makes you wonder where the world is heading, how much of the news we read is fake and how much is curated for us to find. I found the writing to be difficult to follow at times, in need of significant editing with quite a lot of repetition and lack of focus. However the subject matter is very intriguing, interesting and scary. Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

Doppelgänger is an excellent book. You realise early on, it's a book Naomi Klein felt she had to write and that only she could have written. Its central hook is that she, Naomi Klein, leftist activist, is repeatedly confused with Naomi Wolf, increasingly right-wing former feminist. From there, she expands her focus to take in the pandemic, the enduring culture wars in North America, Israel and elsewhere, and the challenges facing young people on the autistic spectrum. The doppelgänger theme is a gift, around which she skilfully weaves a narrative which challenges so much of our current context (and skilfully sidesteps potential lawsuits from her doppelgänger). It's not a perfect book - it's wry humour could have been foregrounded more and the conclusion's call for us essentially to come and work together more is a little glib - but there is far too much to admire, learn from and worry about here to focus on such shortcomings.