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clovetra's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
wow. that was incredible.
the way ziwe mixes the comedic with the incredibly poignant and serious actually has me in awe. from going to talking about she is afraid for her life in an airbnb to talking about her wikifeet score was magnificent. i don’t think i’ve seen someone mix comedy and seriousness this masterfully in my reading journey.
also, as a white person, i did learn a lot from this. obviously i’m not a mind reader, but learning that some things may be seen as microaggressive that never even crossed my mind now do. like the entire essay about “how many black friends do you have?” was something i needed to read. i really quite enjoyed that essay, it’s probably one of my favourites.
i also loved how ziwe tackles the intersectionality between womanhood and being black. obviously i have no fucking clue what that is like, and i know it does exist, but i’ve never actually heard a black woman explain their thoughts surrounding this to me. granted it’s never really come up in conversation, but i’ve also never asked. this had me reflecting on a lot of the behaviours i’ve thought were me being an ally, but were not really helping anyone.
i will say though. the fucking footnotes became the bane of my existence. and that is ENTIRELY the reason why this isn’t a 5-star.
yes i know ziwe explains the footnotes. and at first i found them charming! quirky! unique! but then they would span over 3-5 pages, and go on insane tangents, then i’d come back to the original essay and have forgotten what i’ve just read. the tangents are cute it theory, but some of them needed to be cut down for me to have not been annoyed at this book. like i was flipping back and forth between pages like my life depended on it. for some things i almost wish instead she just used brackets, but alas i am not ziwe
anyways she gobbled the fuck out of this book go ziwe
Graphic: Misogyny and Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Classism
Minor: Slavery and Cultural appropriation
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