Mari Ruti

"My sense is that Ruti’s Penis Envy might resonate particularly with young women who are caught up in the groundswell of the #metoo movement, and also set somewhat adrift by it."
Ronjaunee Chatterjee, ASAP Journal

"Ruti rescues penis envy from Freud's ludicrous literalism and feminism's merry spoofing. Readers versed in critical theory, a field renowned for its obscurantist prose, will find her book remarkably lucid." Carol Tavris, Times Literary Supplement

"In Opting Out, Ruti asks readers to opt in to a comprehensive discussion of the ethical limits of some of the most provocative claims made in queer theory...What we’ve got here is a deep dive into the heart of some of queer theory’s most animating contentions. It can be intense and overwhelming. Yet, as Ruti reminds us, sometimes, even when we disagree, we can try to have our arguments both ways, to see a utility in disagreement. We’d do well to remember, Ruti claims, that those disagreements provide a kind of pleasure and a kind of hope that, especially in the present moment, are more vital than ever." Will Clark, LA Review of Books

"A book like Ruti’s is not concerned with pragmatic questions of how to succeed in love, money or happiness. At the same time, The Singularity of Being never surrenders its distinctly humanist commitment to real lives. In doing so, Ruti reminds us that the opacity of the other, just like the potential opacity of philosophical and psychoanalytic ideas, cannot — and should not— entirely be conjured away." Ronjaunee Chatterjee, LA Review of Books