catladyreba's review against another edition
5.0
Everyone everywhere, stop what you are doing, drop what you are reading, and pick this up, right now. This collection of essays is so essential, so important, and so impactful. I cannot recommend this book enough.
mamaorgana80's review
5.0
Each piece is a bittersweet morsel. I’m proud to live on the same planet with these artists, and I want to read everything by every one of them.
kayfray_8's review against another edition
DNF @ 67 pages
DNF-ing for now, will probably revisit when school isn't as crazy. Definitely nothing about the book itself that is making me not finish
DNF-ing for now, will probably revisit when school isn't as crazy. Definitely nothing about the book itself that is making me not finish
speasyspice's review against another edition
4.0
"You can't tiptoe toward justice. You can't walk up to the door all polite and knock once or twice, hoping someone's home. Justice is a door that, when closed, must be kicked in."
This searing essay collection takes its initial spark from the classic James Baldwin work The Fire Next Time and uses it as a jumping off point to examine the fraught and complicated state of race in America. Written soon after the uprising in Ferguson, MO, the memory of Michael Brown features heavily in many of the essays, but the tragic reality is that you can substitute any victim of police brutality--Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Aiyana Jones, Freddie Gray--and it will read almost identically. THE FIRE THIS TIME is an emotional journey, a mourning wail, and a necessary battle cry - but it also a tentative, hopeful pathway into the future.
This searing essay collection takes its initial spark from the classic James Baldwin work The Fire Next Time and uses it as a jumping off point to examine the fraught and complicated state of race in America. Written soon after the uprising in Ferguson, MO, the memory of Michael Brown features heavily in many of the essays, but the tragic reality is that you can substitute any victim of police brutality--Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Aiyana Jones, Freddie Gray--and it will read almost identically. THE FIRE THIS TIME is an emotional journey, a mourning wail, and a necessary battle cry - but it also a tentative, hopeful pathway into the future.
samlo28's review against another edition
like all essay collections, there are some entries that i like more than others, but there are no bad entries in this collection; i got something from every one.
my favorites are THIS FAR: NOTES ON LOVE AND REVOLUTION, COMPOSITE POPS, BLACK AND BLUE, THE CONDITION OF BLACK LIFE IS ONE OF MOURNING, and WHITE RAGE. i can't necessarily articulate why these are my favorites other than the fact that i felt them in my chest.
my favorites are THIS FAR: NOTES ON LOVE AND REVOLUTION, COMPOSITE POPS, BLACK AND BLUE, THE CONDITION OF BLACK LIFE IS ONE OF MOURNING, and WHITE RAGE. i can't necessarily articulate why these are my favorites other than the fact that i felt them in my chest.
hkburke2's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
4.5
Appreciated the unique voice in each essay that also carries consistent quality and messages. This, of course, guess well with The Fire Next Time.
khorswe's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
slytherinwa's review against another edition
5.0
Hinging on the works of James Baldwin and giving a voice to this generation, Ward compiles a beautiful collection of essays that speak to the turmoil and challenges of our present state in America. This book reminds me to keep fighting, keep reading, and to keep challenging myself and those around me to think critically and to push our boundaries of loving others. A great read that I highly recommend.
nerdyrev's review against another edition
5.0
There are certain books that I think should be required reading, especially around certain topics-race for example. The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward is one of those books to read right now!
This is a collection of essays all told from the black perspective in America. The essays range in topics from poetry to questions about identity through a DNA test to James Baldwin to the white response to black protests. The essays are broken out into Past, Present, and Future, but many contain the past woven throughout the essay. As Ward points out- it is too difficult to remove slavery and/or civil rights from the equation. Each essay is a unique voice around the same topic- race, especially those who are black in America.
Like any collection of essays, there will be some that hit and some that miss or don't connect. There were several in this collection that I have been talking about to my friends since I read the book such as the one on James Baldwin. I have also found the one on White Rage as an essay that I want to study in a room filled with white men and women to get their take on it. It blew me away.
I am not summarizing the essays because many are fairly short and cover only a few pages, but they are still thought provoking. What I have been wondering is whether or not this essay collection will hold up against time? Baldwin's classic (to which this is a response/continuation) holds up as timeless, while this essay collection has a lot of contemporary topics which I wonder if, in 10 years, people will remember their feelings? This is why I have been pushing my friends to read it now.
We are in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, we remember our feelings around Katrina and saw the people being forgotten about because they were black, and we have seen black men shot and left in the street. This essay collection hits those feelings now and this needs to be read now.
I gave this one 4.5 stars.
This is a collection of essays all told from the black perspective in America. The essays range in topics from poetry to questions about identity through a DNA test to James Baldwin to the white response to black protests. The essays are broken out into Past, Present, and Future, but many contain the past woven throughout the essay. As Ward points out- it is too difficult to remove slavery and/or civil rights from the equation. Each essay is a unique voice around the same topic- race, especially those who are black in America.
Like any collection of essays, there will be some that hit and some that miss or don't connect. There were several in this collection that I have been talking about to my friends since I read the book such as the one on James Baldwin. I have also found the one on White Rage as an essay that I want to study in a room filled with white men and women to get their take on it. It blew me away.
I am not summarizing the essays because many are fairly short and cover only a few pages, but they are still thought provoking. What I have been wondering is whether or not this essay collection will hold up against time? Baldwin's classic (to which this is a response/continuation) holds up as timeless, while this essay collection has a lot of contemporary topics which I wonder if, in 10 years, people will remember their feelings? This is why I have been pushing my friends to read it now.
We are in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, we remember our feelings around Katrina and saw the people being forgotten about because they were black, and we have seen black men shot and left in the street. This essay collection hits those feelings now and this needs to be read now.
I gave this one 4.5 stars.