This is a very difficult book to rate. It mixes brilliance with poor delivery in the form of endless repetition. Tricia Hersey often puts her point very eloquently, this book isn't long enough, 195 pp. of text, to bear the weight of saying the same thing over and over. It's not likely that the reader has forgotten what was said before. At the same time, it is laced with moving autobiographical scenes. I stopped about half-way through to read another book, just to keep going.

Hersey is mostly speaking to fellow African-Americans, but what she has to say applies broadly and a lot of the populations, especially those who aren't managers, may find her tackling a very important issue. How much do we belong to ourselves? I have felt under constant pressure most of my life to regard myself as a machine that can be adapted, without stress, to the needs of others. The devotion that we are supposed to owe organizations that consider us to be interchangeable cogs is ridiculous. I owe then what I'm being for, nothing more. I will never get to the top? I'm not trying, and, face it, most people never will get to the top.

Hersey talks a great deal about a longer and longer list of "-isms," ableism, patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, and finally, the "ism" that I think is too often over looked, classism, but this is usually just a list without much examination. She associates American slavery with the rise of capitalism, which I think is not entirely true, but the reader might want to have a look at Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams, which is summarized in Wikipedia. Williams argued that the wealth generated by slavery fueled the rise of capitalism in the west. I think one could debate definitions of capitalism, and whether that would be better described as the Industrial Revolution, but certainly that created the situation in which most of us live.

It is a situation that has gotten worse during my lifetime - at least before the collapse of the USSR, politicians and other influential people were eager to argue that workers under capitalism actually had better lives than those living in the workers' paradise. Statistically, white middle class people were better off, workers earned salaries that allowed a single wage earner to support a family, benefits and pensions were often better. A lot of people were excluded from this happy picture, and although some groups have made advances, in real dollar terms, wages are stagnant and sometimes have even declined. Wealth inequity has become much more severe. I don't think that Hersey has a real good argument to give to people who say that they can't rest because they have to pay their bills. Hersey notes that she overcame great odds to get where she is today, but it was an enormous struggle, and, "I succeeded, so can everybody else," is not a real good answer. Sometimes luck and chance determine part of the outcome.

I actually prefer the term "grind culture" to capitalism, because I suspect that better expresses the problem of people being treated as little better than work tools, and I suspect that it is very common throughout history. Slavery, according to a history I read, is one of the oldest and most common human institutions. It has contributed its wealth to all sorts of economic systems, as has serfdom, tenant farming, and peonage. The involuntary labor of "lesser beings" is always popular with the upper classes. In Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, the narrator, the house-steward Gabriel Betteredge, says: "People in high life have all the luxuries to themselves -- among others, the luxury of indulging their feelings. People in low life have no such privilege. Necessity, which spares our betters, has no pity on us. We learn to put our feelings back into ourselves, and to jog on with our duties as patiently as may be."

As with so many works, noting the problem works much better than coming up with a solution. Hersey calls for community, an placing a higher value on ourselves, which I have no problem with, but the problem is always controlling the predatory. I always thought that living the American Dream is being able to build a secure life, but to other people. it's amassing enough money and influence to stack the odds in their own favor and seize whatever they can. I think that we have a lot of work to do before we are giving the children of our society what they deserve, but I am not sure that we can guarantee that everyone will be a good person.

This book was mentioned during a sermon at my Unitarian Universalist church, so I decided I should read it. I make napping a regular part of my day now that I'm retired, so I thought it might be wonderful that my habit could be considered a spiritual practice. However, I am a white woman, not wealthy but certainly not poor. This book hit hard at capitalism and white supremacy in a way that was off-putting. The author never addressed how white people could be allies.

I agreed with some of her ideas- "You are enough right now because you are alive." Her encouragement to be in the moment and to take time to dream as well as rest is admirable and could use promotion in our culture. But she was extremely repetitive. The book was 195 pages, but I think a 20-60 page essay could have made her points effectively. ( )

5 stars for theme/messages. 3 1/2 stars for overall execution. Hersey provides a wealth of proverbial "food for thought." She offers readers a completely new perspective on what we typically call "rest." She also hits on a number of important and timely themes, including racism. Even readers who might be hesitant to accept the book's key premises will likely finish it with new insights on productivity, capitalism and white supremacy. Now for a couple thoughts on the book's overall execution. I agree with some reviewers that there's too much repetition in this thin volume. Some have aptly noted that the core material may have been more impactful if it had been presented as an extended essay with a more cohesive structure. Still, Hersey's "Nap Ministry" provides many thought-provoking ideas. "Rest is Resistance" would undoubtedly spur lively discussion in many book club circles. ( )

There is so much to take in and explore in this book, and it’s all incredibly important and essential. As the author notes, “If we are to find rest right now, while capitalism rages on as a global force, we will have to view ourselves from a different lens…” Her story about founding the Nap Ministry is inspiring, but really all you have to do is believe that you’re worthy of rest (and this can be the hardest thing). I learned about burnout the hard way and have had a journey to understand what works best for my mind and body, and so I loved having this resource as a kind of vindication as well. ( )

Tricia Hersey shares her work and philosophy about the act of rest as resistance to the demands of capitalism, white supremacy, and grind culture. I found myself taking photos of passages and thinking about people I know that talk about guilt for down time and the pressure of constantly being scheduled. ( )