alexisgarcia's review
4.5
Graphic: Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
mirandyli's review
5.0
Spoiler
Through this letter to his son, he is ending the cycle of generational trauma. However, there is nothing he can do to end the cycle of racism in America. He, like all Black children, was told by everyone to be twice as good. White children aren't told to be twice as good. In fact, they are told to take twice as much.Graphic: Violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Slavery, Classism, Death, Police brutality, and Racism
juksu's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Gun violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Classism, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction and Slavery
dylandalton's review
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Classism and Colonisation
indeedithappens's review
5.0
Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Police brutality, War, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Gaslighting, Rape, and Xenophobia
purplepenning's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, and Death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Grief, Classism, and Slavery
tmchopra's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Classism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Death, Murder, Child death, and Racial slurs
cady_sass's review
5.0
This should be required reading. It’s a bit dense, and, despite being very short, takes some time to read and absorb. The stream of consciousness prose can be a little off putting to some, but if you take the time to move through this slowly it really adds to it. Heavy. Hard-hitting and deeply moving.
Graphic: Racism, Cursing, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Classism, Slavery, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Child death
samugranjo's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Hate crime
Moderate: Colonisation, Slavery, Gun violence, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Violence, and Classism
zanm's review
3.5
It is a good book because its controversy sparks discussion and the writing style is extremely raw.
It is a bad book because it panders just a bit too much and doesn’t expand nearly enough on certain issues (ex. how racism is ingrained in America via capitalism).
So you see- I’m torn.
Personally, this gave me the feel of a book written so white people can read it and say they’ve “done the research.” I also really liked specific parts of it and hated others, but that’s crucial to a book on race. It’s not supposed to be comfortable.
Another thing that immensely bothered me is that it’s marketed as “a book for his son” when it’s so clearly not.
TLDR: Worth reading but only if you rip it apart and use it as a jumping point.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Death, Classism, Violence, Racism, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Grief
Moderate: Misogyny, Antisemitism, and Homophobia