Reviews with content warning for Violence - Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

22 reviews

josxphinchen's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

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meganamelia's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

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softgalaxy's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

A really illuminating read on racism in the UK. It’s definitely a primer as I’m sure Eddo-Lodge could have wrote more on each of the chapters.

Reading it in 2021 was eye-opening as I remember how different anti-racism was treated in the media 5-10 years ago. As Eddo-Lodge rightly says, there has been a renaissance in societal consciousness regarding whiteness and Blackness. It’s been wonderful to see, but there is a long way to go.

Every white person should read this

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pagesof_autumn's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

An exploration of structural racism in the UK and systematic racism as a whole. I think books like Eddo-Lodge's are important primers to raise awareness about racism and white privilege. It doesn't mean you have to agree with every single statement in the book, but it's about making you stand still, take a moment and reconsider your perspective. If that makes you, as a white person, feel uncomfortable, that's exactly the point. Contemplate it and speak to your peers about it.

I docked a point because I feel it could've been more thorough and maybe ever-so-slightly more nuanced, but I also recognize that this isn't a topic I'm qualified to speak about.

I listened to the audio book, but I hope the print copy offers a thorough bibliography so that readers can explore the studies Eddo-Lodge cites for themselves.

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gabiabudhabi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

Must read!

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flara's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

Eddo-Lodge states that she owes her respectability to the fact that against all odds, she was able to follow a professional trajectory very similar to those she criticises. She specifically mentions that she speaks and writes like them. As much as this statement makes you think about the way things are, and how they shouldn't be, I cannot disagree with it, because this book truly is very, very digestible. It starts off as a reflective academic-style text, becomes more and more personal throughout, until it morphs into anger-fuelled call for action in the last chapters. When I got to the 3rd chapter 'What is White Privilege?' I found myself reaching for a pencil and underlining important passages, and could not let go of the pencil until the very end. I don't know what essay I'll be writing since I'm no longer in university, but somehow I felt that these quotes were important and I need to make note of them.

Now I must say that as the book progressed, the writing became less fact-based and more emotional. I can't really blame Eddo-Lodge, she has every right to feel outraged. She wrote from her experience, which is experience shared by far too many. We don't need a statistic, an exact number, in order to believe or understand that yes, racism is truly ever-present and encompassing of non-white people's lives. Especially if those numbers had been laid out in previous chapters. I specifically mention this, because it has been pointed out in other reviews. I personally don't mind this, I think there is a need for an outcry where necessary. I haven't read as much as I would have liked about this topic in the past, I have to shamefully admit, therefore my review might be favourable due to this fact.

I enjoyed reading other people's perspectives, such as the interview (well, not really, but anyway) with Eddo-Lodge's mixed-raced friend, or her Texan white friend. I wish there were more, I think they intensified EL's point. The Nick Griffin interview was quite short, but oh my, so intense. I wanted to punch him through the book. How EL kept her cool during this phone call is beyond me.

All in all a great, essential read.

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