although quite long, because it was written for a P.H.D, it is a book that will make you change the way everithing looks. If you are a female, you will find yourself nodding at every page as you recognize yourself, your mom, your sister, etc. If you are male, you will pay attention to so many untold and unexplained asumptions, and hopefully change your view of the world. I add, also, that even as Lagarde points out all the ways in which women are bound by society, family, marriage and religion, she does not brag of having left her own captivity. She always refers to an "us" in which she includes herself, which is conforting.