Rach's Reading Club

by Choconut

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Where all you have to do is read books to receive awesome prizes.

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Feb 28, 2026 at 8:18pm

#3791067

Here's a book review for July's theme

by Gratefully IE

Review of On Our Best Behavior (The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to be Good)
Elise Loehnen

This nonfiction work takes on the Seven Deadly Sins as set forth by the Christian church wayyyy back in the fourth century: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth and how their power has become insidious in our lives.

Written from a feminist perspective, Loehnen goes into detail on each of these and how as good girls, we suppress each of these “sins” because we are striving to be good as our parents, and as the patriarchal society demands it. The price we pay for this suppression colors every aspect of our lives.

Written with a lot of personal stories and references, the author does a great job of showing us exactly what she means. How, as women, our cultural programming is to obey these rules.

The purpose of all of this is not to go crazy and mow down innocent folks because we’re finally allowed to be angry. Not at all. The work is integration. Seeing where we have learned to suppress feelings, owning those feelings, then integrating them for our personal enhancement. Nothing is more powerful than a person who has learned to take the “sin” of anger and turn it into a voice for good. That kind of power can change the world.

This also the work of anyone who does shadow work. We must acknowledge that which we hide away, give it a place in our life and see it, and ourselves, for who we truly are.

I first came across this book by picking up the workbook that was recently published. When I realized the workbook required reading this book first, I found it at my local library.

I won’t say I agree with everything she wrote, but that’s not the point of any nonfiction. The point, to me, is to listen to take in what they’ve got to say. Make up your own mind if it aligns with how you want to move forward and then leaving the rest behind.

It was an interesting read.