wayfaring_witch's review against another edition
4.0
A strength of this collection is that is showcases a wide variety of experiences, highlighting the complexity of race. As with any anthology, each essay resonates differently. Before this I read "Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement" which was a fascinating companion as you hear the voices of a different generation. Would definitely recommend both!
jrobles76's review against another edition
4.0
Published in 2016, but could easily have been written yesterday. Very sad that each essay you could update by just changing the names of those killed from Brown to Floyd, from Bland to Breona. Hopefully in 4 years this book will be more historical than relevant. Hope.
madetofly's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
scorpiodonut's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this series of essays. They all focused on race in American society, from the remnants of slavery to walking in cities while black to all of the police brutality. It was really eye opening. I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to educate themselves.
Sometimes I found it a bit dense, but overall it was very good.
Sometimes I found it a bit dense, but overall it was very good.
dekedescombes's review against another edition
4.0
Individually, each piece provoked me, but overall the reading experience isn’t smooth as there are huge jumps in style, time, and theme between the essays/stories. Sometimes this was frustrating or even distracting since different works required different types of engagement. Pieces don’t build on each other in ways that could deepen the collection. Ward goes out of her way to establish the categories of each of the three sections (roughly past, present, future) and without that establishing, the sections wouldn’t be easily defined. Without taking anything out, a much better flow could be achieved.
The writing is fantastic. A handful of the pieces I’ve shared with friends. Two are still living rent-free in my head months later.
5 stars for the individual writings, 3 stars for anthology cohesiveness.
The writing is fantastic. A handful of the pieces I’ve shared with friends. Two are still living rent-free in my head months later.
5 stars for the individual writings, 3 stars for anthology cohesiveness.
notallbooks_mp's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
mrspenningalovesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This is a powerful read. I highly recommend it. I hoped to hear more of Ward’s voice in it, but it’s a powerful collection of essays, letters, poems, and voices who speak to what it’s like to live in America with racism. The last section brought me to tears, realizing what parents go through in the conversations they are forced to have with their children. That needs to change, and it can only change when Americans see lenses like these to shed light on the horrors that happen every day in America.
“Every journey is a crisis, a turning point, a shedding of myths, and mine began with the gnawing certainty that something did not add up. And in a way, this journey never ends, but in another sense, it ends where all great roads lead: to the discovery of voice.”
“The truth is I don’t want my daughters to grow up as I did, terrified of the country and the world they live in. But is it irresponsible of me to not alert them to the potentially life-altering, or even life-ending horrors they might face as young block women?”
“Every journey is a crisis, a turning point, a shedding of myths, and mine began with the gnawing certainty that something did not add up. And in a way, this journey never ends, but in another sense, it ends where all great roads lead: to the discovery of voice.”
“The truth is I don’t want my daughters to grow up as I did, terrified of the country and the world they live in. But is it irresponsible of me to not alert them to the potentially life-altering, or even life-ending horrors they might face as young block women?”
meg_ventures's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5