Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up

I really loved this memoir! It was well-paced and very engaging, thoughtful and incisive while also being quite funny at times.

This book is quite literally close to home; Western is about an hour from where I live, and my sibling even attended the school at the same time as the author. A lot of the cultural reference points were familiar and very relatable, and it was interesting to see how Martis’ experiences of university life was similar and also incredibly different from mine.

I will absolutely read any further work from Martis & would highly recommend picking up this memoir!

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onebook_more's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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sammietaylor's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

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sweetbean's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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angelinazahajko's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Black History Month Book #1

I am a sucker for a good memoir, but it is rare that a memoir claims its 5 stars within the first 30 pages. That was my experience with Eternity Martis' They Said This Would Be Fun.

Martis combines memoir with journalistic essay in this exploration of race and coming of age through the lens of a Canadian university in Southern Ontario; a niche that is so specific but so personal to me, as a student at the University of Toronto. Each chapter explores a snapshot of Martis' experience at Western University, whether that is confronting blackface on Halloween, the intricacies of familial, intimate, and platonic relationships, campus sexual assault, or (my favourite recurring segment) The Campus Survival Guide for Token Students! She then takes her personal experience and zooms out to explore how her story fits into the larger conversation about race within the Canadian university context, pulling examples from across the country. This structure made for a very fast-paced and educational read that framed issues that I was extremely familiar with inside a context (the university campus) that I often neglected to consider when understanding Canadian race relations. My favourite conversations discussed in the book were definitely about navigating race topics within a white academic classroom setting, her multiple relationships and how they impacted her, and confronting her identity as a half-Black, half-Pakstani woman.

This book is so well done and contains such serious subject matter that I feel like it could be easy to overlook how funny this book is! Eternity Martis is a real human being and her voice transcends the pages of her book. There were multiple times where I was laughing out loud at cleverly placed meme references, awkward bong stories, her biting, sarcastic wit, and her thirsting for Michael B. Jordan (because, girl same). I read this alongside the audiobook narrated by her and OMG she is fucking hilarious. She delivered her written work in a way that elevated the reading experience for me - would definitely recommend!

Finally, I would be remised, however, to write a full review of this memoir and not mention the book's final chapter "The End of the Rainbow". To me, this chapter is Martis' best by FAR! It is both a love letter and a dissection of Black sisterhood. I was listening to this chapter in its audiobook form and I was bookmarking quotes left and right that I couldn't wait to underline in my physical copy. It was a reminder of the hope, the resilience, and the love that transcends the systemic oppression that binds these Black women inside and outside of Western University. If you don't have time to commit to a full book right now, try to get your hands on this final chapter - its Martis writing at her best.

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morganeua's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective

4.25

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moonbeam_erin's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

Recommend

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