The Review
Title: Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up
Author: Marie Kondo
Genre: Organization/Productivity
Trigger Warnings: None
Back Cover:
Spark Joy is an in-depth, line illustrated, room-by-room guide to decluttering and organizing your home. It covers every room in the house from bedrooms and kitchens to bathrooms and living rooms as well as a wide range of items in different categories, including clothes, photographs, paperwork, books, cutlery, cosmetics, shoes, bags, wallets and valuables. Charming line drawings explain how to properly organize drawers, wardrobes, cupboards and cabinets. The illustrations also show Ms Kondo’s unique folding method, clearly showing how to fold anything from shirts, trousers and jackets to skirts, socks and bras.
Marie Kondo’s first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, presents her unique tidying philosophy and introduces readers to the basics of her KonMari method. It has already transformed the homes and lives of millions of people around the world. Spark Joy is Marie Kondo’s in-depth tidying masterclass, focusing on the detail of how to declutter and organize your home.
Review:
Two years after reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the original book outlining the KonMari organizing method, I picked up Spark Joy, the companion book. I originally started reading it because I’d already read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and wanted new information, but then after reading this book I went back and reread that one anyway. (See below.)
Spark Joy is short and sweet, going into further detail on what she talked about in the first book. If you were confused by written descriptions of how to fold things, there’s illustrations in here to clear it up. There’s also diagrams of where Marie thinks the best places for things to go in each room are.
It also clears up what I thought was the most confusing part of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – what to do about things that don’t necessarily spark joy but are needed. My saucepans, for example, don’t particularly spark joy, but cooking will be kind of difficult if I get rid of all of them. Marie’s solution may be a little “woo-woo,” as my husband put it, but at least there’s a reason behind it and it fits with the rest of the method.
Overall, this was a good expansion to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and is just as inspiring as the original. Which is why I ended up rereading the original book after I finished this one.
The Update
I reread The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. (Click here for my original review.) My main reason for doing so was because I really want my husband to get on board with KonMari-ing our new apartment and I know he won’t read the whole book, so I decided to write a summary (which turned out to be 9 pages long – much more likely to get read).
My thoughts on the book haven’t really changed since my initial review. It’s still inspiring and seems to have a solid practical foundation, and the personification of houses and objects seemed a lot less weird the second time around. Though I remembered the basic ideas, the reread was a good refresher and reminded me of some of the details I’d forgotten. Summarizing it for my husband also helped me remember it better, and now I have a summary if I need a quick refresher.
Now let’s see if we ever get around to actually KonMari-ing the apartment!
Bluejay Reads 