Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Citizen: An American Lyric

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

31 reviews

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging reflective fast-paced

2.5

I am sorry but this book was really not for me. I did not get along with the writing style nor the way it was structured, these sort of fragmented and episodic reflections were too difficult for me to follow, I mostly felt confused and clueless about what was going on.
Honestly, I understood maybe a third of what I read and while that is certainly on me, it really hampered my fruition of the book and the general appreciation of the reading experience.

I also struggled with the final section in verse and most of it went over my head. I admit that I am not a devoted poetry reader and, when I actually read it, I am usually drawn to a more prose-like and matter-of-fact type of poetry.

I think a book like this is just too much experimental for my personal taste. However, I did appreciate the section focusing on Serena Williams and the racism she experienced in her career as a tennis player, it might be because it was the part that more closely resembled a traditional and straightforward essay.

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eve81's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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krhe's review against another edition

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dark

4.0

Me apunto las obras referenciadas porque hay varias cosas interesantes. Primera vez en mucho tiempo que anoto un libro, pero merecía la pena.

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savvylit's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Citizen is a brutal look at Black identity, microaggression, police brutality, and erasure. Rankine interweaves personal recollections of microaggressions with examination of racial hatred in the public sphere. For instance, there is a significant section of this book that reflects upon racism faced by Serena Williams. Juxtaposing public instances of racism and police brutality with her own personal experience allows Rankine to emphasize the broad spectrum of a distinctly American brand of racism.

As I tend to do when reviewing poetry, let me leave you with a fragment of Rankine's own words:

"You are you even before you grow into understanding you are not anyone, worthless, not worth you. Even as your own weight insists you are here, fighting off the weight of nonexistence. And still this life parts your lids, you see you seeing your extending hand as a falling wave— I they he she we you turn only to discover the encounter to be alien to this place. Wait. The patience is in the living. Time opens out to you. The opening, between you and you, occupied, zoned for an encounter, given the histories of you and you— And always, who is this you? The start of you, each day, a presence already— Hey you—"

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readbycarina's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

4.25

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solenodon's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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klor's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

In a trip to California about 4 years ago, a friend asked me, "What age did you realize that other people existed (outside of your own life)?" That was a constant reminder throughout reading the first half of the book and throughout, especially as Rankine details the various microagressions that happen in her daily life and slowly expanding that into the larger scale things such as biases and police brutality. Sometimes we just want to be seen, but properly.

While the scripts in the middle of the book left a lot to be desired, the writing points out a clear picture in between the various vignettes of what it's like to live as a black person in today's world. I'd love to reread this book in the future as I think it's something that grows on you with time.

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viaviaggi's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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kalbalde's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

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ablaine's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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