Do you remember when you were a kid and believed you could fly? You would stand on the edge of the bed, pillows and knee pads on, you know, “just in case,” and you would leap. Normally it wasn’t successful, but that glimmer of hope would swell in your chest and make you believe, that with a bit of practice, maybe one day you would fly. Elizabeth Renzetti’s Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls helped me find that feeling again.

This is the second book from Renzetti, a columnist for The Globe and Mail. Her first novel, Based on a True Story, was about truths and lies from celebrity culture and journalism. Shrewed, a non-fiction collection of essays, advocates the necessity of feminism in every aspect of our lives. Instead of knee pads and pillows, Renzetti uses humour and wit to cushion her readers for the harsh reality — sexism is alive and well in 2018.

With politically charged subject matter, Renzetti manages to maintain a (relatively) objective vantage point. Although stating her own political beliefs clearly, the novel as a whole does not attempt to change the reader’s political views. Rather, Renzetti guides her readers through real encounters with real women — some famous, some not — and current affairs that highlight why feminism continues to matter. Renzetti’s data and statistics on the wage gap, current affairs, and the pitfalls of social media, all focus on the last couple of years. The impact of reading these statistics feels like a brick to the chest; a completely effective rhetorical move to create a much-needed wake up call.

Shrewed reads like an upward journey; starting small, describing the daily battles with the “asshole in your head,” all the way up to the 2016 Presidential Election and the future of feminism. Renzetti uses a complementary balance of facts and real experience to connect with the reader in an emotional and rational way. By the end, you feel a kinship with Renzetti, like you’ve just overcome a milestone together; like you’ve grown up a little bit more. Without asking anything of her reader in return, Renzetti makes it easy for one to hold a mirror to themselves and reflect on their own lives. From personal to public, Renzetti makes it clear that change must start with the self.

In the chapter “Fearlessness,” Renzetti reminds us that in a world that asks us to be fearless all the time, it’s okay to be flawed and, yes, to have a bit of fear. Fear is the emotion that keeps our survival instincts intact to “live to fight another day”. Be balanced and brave — you can be both. One day the fighting and the fear will be over. That day isn’t here yet, but with books like Shrewed, it certainly feels a little bit closer.