I am no expert in economics so some parts were maybe a but confusing, but overall this was mostly accessible. The author definitely provided some interesting insights (sometimes using some interesting metaphors) into capitalism but there were times when I wish he'd given a bit more attention to third world countries. A big example of this is when he talked about debt, where he focussed on the Greek financial crisis. He did mention how people were against Argentina paying back their debt early, but I would have loved to see more conversation about how it is leveraged to keep Africa poor, for example. But I did enjoy getting to see how capitalism is impacting so many aspects of life and his discussions around a need for change. ( )

El conocido filósofo Slavoj Zizek y fenomeno de masas, a través de esta brillante obra hace un diagnóstico de los problemas que enfrenta el capitalismo en nuestros días, y nos propone que la alternativa no es el comunismo del siglo XX, sino una suerte de comunismo chino ( )

When Thatcher was asked about her greatest achievement, she promptly answered: 'New Labour.'
Risking an air of redundancy, Trouble in Paradise is troubling, concerning, topical and immediate. Cobbled from pieces Žižek wrote for periodicals (largely the Guardian and the LRB -- I had read most of them previously there) I found his arguments much more persuasive presented here, linked arm and arm, even if the repeated jokes do ache a bit after the 5th telling. What I appreciate about the text is how Žižek look to other theorists for answers or at least models of opportunity: Sloterdijk and Berardi feature prominently. So quickly -- inequality and a lack of social justice are inflaming many throughout the world. It is a question of expectations, so watch out China. Mindsets are becoming medieval at digital speeds. The establishment feels threatened --why Snowden, Assange, Manning are viewed as such threats -- the welfare state was doomed once the Wall fell, as the lack of a political alternative meant that such securities were a superfluous expenditure. Z reflects on Benjamin's mystic violence while he imagines a Communist horizon. I texted my best friend while reading this that I felt the weight of emancipatory politics all weekend, yet I could only trust beer in such weighty matters. ( )

Zizek is an iconoclast whose writing is often impenetrable but can also, at times be thought-provoking and entertaining. The best parts of the book are his analyses of the 2007-2008 banking crisis and the various wars in the middle east. The most difficult parts are his complex analyses of the struggles in Eastern Europe, particularly the Ukraine, and his general thesis about the need to reformulate communism as a bulwark against the worst excesses of modern-day capitalism.
His writing is most entertaining when he wanders off into analogies based on works of popular culture and jokes. Thus, he explains why masturbation is more satisfying than full sex, how zombies and vampires reflect the class struggle (zombies are the down-trodden masses, vampires are the wealthy aristocracy) and how the present state of world politics is reflected in Batman movies. But beware, I may be in danger of making it sound much more readable than it really is. ( )