PositiveThe Guardian (UK)Laing’s political earnestness...is leavened by empathy and an omnivorous curiosity – as was true of John Berger, whose tone and spirit Funny Weather often recalls, and who is eulogised in its pages ... Hers is not quite criticism in the manner of, say, the late Mark Fisher, with an idea in every sentence, but rather, a collation and relaying of perspectives and information – occasionally penetrating and generally celebratory. As a critic, Laing tends to drop her readers off at the door ... Laing’s prose is haunted with the zeitgeist’s uncertainty and disquietude. The more personally revealing pieces – on online loneliness, ageing and a period the author spent living feral – raise the affective stakes ... As is often the case with books of this kind, Funny Weather works best as a compendium of recommendations and reminders, if one with a distinctive chill running through it.
