People Are Conflicted About Marie Kondo's KonMari Method For Throwing Out Books
Netflix's new show called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo premiered in early 2019, and it's already making waves. In the first season, consultant and author Marie Kondo helps families declutter and "choose joy," per Netflix's description of her show. The show follows families that were positively impacted by Kondo's home makeovers, but many viewers disagree with Kondo's thoughts on tidying up books. And these tweets about Marie Kondo's KonMari method for books are not totally here for tossing out your personal library.
In the show, Kondo advises people to get rid of books that do not bring them joy, per The Outline. This follows the KonMari method, which has six rules of tidying, per House Beautiful:
- Commit.
- Imagine the ideal life you wish to live.
- Discard first.
- Tidy by category.
- Follow the order above.
- Ask yourself "Does it spark joy?"
While there is a lot excitement about this method in regard to wardrobes and other personal items, many people are expressing their disagreement with throwing out books. Some people note that they often return to books at different moments in their lives for different reasons. Others say that books don't actually exclusively exist to comfort people or bring joy, but they also challenge readers, make you question the world, and they're even meant to disturb you. Joanna Robinson, senior writer atVanity Fair, per her Tiwtter bio, summed up her opinion with a GIF of the housekeeper from Get Out saying "no, no, no, no, no, no.
Here are some more reactions from the Twitterverse:
People were setting aside the notion that books should only bring you joy, like how Anankana Schofield wrote on Twitter, "I have said it a hundred times: Literature does not exist only to comfort and placate us. It should disturb + perturb us. Life is disturbing."
On the other hand, people argued that books always bring them joy, like when @emmy_bug wrote, "My books are basically the only thing I own that bring me joy. I'd be on that show fully nude surrounded by books."
While some Twitter users were downright upset by the Kondo's method, others took a different approach to her suggestion:
Though it seems like most of Twitter were either criticizing the Marie Kondo KonMari book method or advocating that people ignore her advice if they wanted to, some people were entirely on team #LeaveMarieKondoAlone.
Author Caroline Moss tweeted about the controversy, detailing who she thought should be getting the backlash.
Comic book writer Jamie McKelvie jokingly said he was "so sad to learn that Marie Kondo is breaking into people's houses and throwing out all their books (I assume this is what is happening based on some reactions on twitter)." LOL.
Marie Kondo's Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo is based on Kondo's first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which was translated from Japanese to English in 2014. In the book, Kondo touches some themes that she believes will lead to a tidier home and more joyful life, like: purging everything you own, tidying up by category, storing things properly, and generally using cleaning to transform the rest of your life. Kondo also released a gratitude journal in 2016 called Life-Changing Magic: A Journal - Spark Joy Every Day which encourages people to ask not only if objects spark joy, but if relationships and activities in their lives also spark joy.
Whatever side of the Kondo book debate you might be on, remember that only you get to decide what do to do with your books and the rest of your things! Whether or not you subscribe to Marie Kondo's KonMari Method, keeping your books, donating them, or removing them are decisions best left up to you.
