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katiescho741's review against another edition
4.0
This book really opened my eyes to the treatment of immigrants in the UK. The stories are varied but also very similar, going from xenophobia, to history, to humour that makes the writing feel informal yet powerful.
The people who talked about being type cast as "Wife of a Terrorist" or "Wife in miserable arranged Marriage" made me laugh, but also made me very aware of how little representation women from the Middle East have in UK media. The idea of having to justify having a person of colour in your show/film/book is mentioned a lot, and one story reminds us how important the simple things are like having flesh tone crayons in a range of shades so that school kids can create self-portraits that look like them.
Funnily enough, as I was reading this book, Tesco announced the launch of their new plasters in brown shades. Some of the dismissive, mocking, and just plain racist responses to this basic bit of inclusion on Twitter, made me realise how important this book is.
The people who talked about being type cast as "Wife of a Terrorist" or "Wife in miserable arranged Marriage" made me laugh, but also made me very aware of how little representation women from the Middle East have in UK media. The idea of having to justify having a person of colour in your show/film/book is mentioned a lot, and one story reminds us how important the simple things are like having flesh tone crayons in a range of shades so that school kids can create self-portraits that look like them.
Funnily enough, as I was reading this book, Tesco announced the launch of their new plasters in brown shades. Some of the dismissive, mocking, and just plain racist responses to this basic bit of inclusion on Twitter, made me realise how important this book is.
normal_ish's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
rh_222006's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
rthresher28's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
show_no_mercy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
While I enjoyed most of the essays in the book the problem with the format is that they are all short and I found that I struggled to be really immersed in them because they were over too quickly.
mastersal's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of short stories written by immigrants and children of immigrants in the UK - this was something that I was very interested in reading. The collection of essays is diverse coming from a variety of backgrounds. The quality of the essays vary as well as the authors are not all writers - some are actors, activists, authors and poets.
This made for an interesting read - like with collections of essays - some landed and some missed.
Individual ratings follow:
NAMASTE - 4 star - good fun to start the collection.
A GUIDE TO BEING BLACK - 4.5 stars. Excellently written - see example “While being black can be a shared experience, not all black experiences are the same.”
MY NAME IS MY NAME - 5 stars - very poetic. This left a lump in my throat
YELLOW - 3.5 stars. Not as moving or well written but still I learned quite a bit.
KENDO NAGASAKI AND ME - 3 stars. A more specific personal essay about the bullying and racial slurs the authors felt. I liked it and it highlighted the need for diverse representation but I didn't know the names of the characters or actors so I was a little lost.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY - 3 stars
Seemed more positive about the immigrant experience and living in a small community, even if it was not multicultural. A nice hopeful little essay. Nothing particularly new for me and not greatly written. Fans of the actor will probably enjoy it more.
IS NISH KUMAR A CONFUSED MUSLIM? 2 stars - it was ok but I didn’t see much insight or point here. The essay stretched the point being made
FORMING BLACKNESS THROUGH A SCREEN - 4 stars
Essay ended a little abruptly but was really good. Exploring identity through the American pop culture monolith since you have little which is home grown and specific to you - yeah that hit close. Just wish the essay has been a little longer tbh.
BEYOND GOOD IMMIGRANTS - 3.5 stars
“But the horrified furore around Chua’s parenting memoir show that beneath the Western awe at Chinese educational attainment is a profoundly uncomfortable fear of a seemingly alien culture.”
I think I like these serious essays more which quote more than personal facts and put the experience into a larger narrative and context. The essay was good but I didn’t follow all the actors names so it got a bit specific
YOU CAN'T SAY THAT! STORIES HAVE TO BE ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE - 5 stars
“Speaking to Nabila, she told me she had never written about an Indian heritage … character before. … nobody has ever explicitly given her permission…”
This made for an interesting read - like with collections of essays - some landed and some missed.
Individual ratings follow:
NAMASTE - 4 star - good fun to start the collection.
A GUIDE TO BEING BLACK - 4.5 stars. Excellently written - see example “While being black can be a shared experience, not all black experiences are the same.”
MY NAME IS MY NAME - 5 stars - very poetic. This left a lump in my throat
YELLOW - 3.5 stars. Not as moving or well written but still I learned quite a bit.
KENDO NAGASAKI AND ME - 3 stars. A more specific personal essay about the bullying and racial slurs the authors felt. I liked it and it highlighted the need for diverse representation but I didn't know the names of the characters or actors so I was a little lost.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY - 3 stars
Seemed more positive about the immigrant experience and living in a small community, even if it was not multicultural. A nice hopeful little essay. Nothing particularly new for me and not greatly written. Fans of the actor will probably enjoy it more.
IS NISH KUMAR A CONFUSED MUSLIM? 2 stars - it was ok but I didn’t see much insight or point here. The essay stretched the point being made
FORMING BLACKNESS THROUGH A SCREEN - 4 stars
Essay ended a little abruptly but was really good. Exploring identity through the American pop culture monolith since you have little which is home grown and specific to you - yeah that hit close. Just wish the essay has been a little longer tbh.
BEYOND GOOD IMMIGRANTS - 3.5 stars
“But the horrified furore around Chua’s parenting memoir show that beneath the Western awe at Chinese educational attainment is a profoundly uncomfortable fear of a seemingly alien culture.”
I think I like these serious essays more which quote more than personal facts and put the experience into a larger narrative and context. The essay was good but I didn’t follow all the actors names so it got a bit specific
YOU CAN'T SAY THAT! STORIES HAVE TO BE ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE - 5 stars
“Speaking to Nabila, she told me she had never written about an Indian heritage … character before. … nobody has ever explicitly given her permission…”