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pipn_t's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I really enjoyed this book, I thought the different stories told in the chapelets were interesting. I wasn’t as into the first chapter but got into things more once past there. Lots of interesting history that I didn’t know prior to reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
bella_cavicchi's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
It's been a long while since I've read an essay collection, and Esi Edugyan reminded me why I love them so: more often than not, they're books that sit with you and change your understanding of the world (however slight). OUT OF THE SUN delivers on both accounts. Edugyan writes on various nuances of race with great grace, highlighting oft-overlooked narratives and characters of history in the process. Her essay on ghosts is a true winner.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Colonisation, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
carlybellesbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This seemingly disparate collection of essays covers a wide range of ground in the exploration of Black lives throughout history, with particular reference to their absence from historical record, artistic representation, and how this impacts our wider cultural consciousness. Moving from the Black figures of European portraiture to Afrofuturism to the shock her own face caused on a trip to China, Edugyun interrogates the experiences of black lives concealed throughout various points in history and what this means for the way we understand the world now. By looking at whose stories are not told, and the gaps in which these hidden lives might be glimpsed, she offers thoughtful insights into this lost history and how these absences cast a shadow over our cultural narratives.
Exploring themes such as art, migration, identity and storytelling, Edugyun weaves personal reflections and memoir throughout. Her writing is both tender and sharp as she speculates on the lives we will never get to know and what that means for contemporary lives searching for a lost past. While every essay in this collection is clearly well researched, accessible, and beautifully written, some were unexpected and I was particularly struck by the chapter Canada and the Art of Ghosts, a reflection on ghost stories as a mode of memorial and the bias inherent in the figures we keep alive through such stories.
I felt like I learned so much from this book and I really appreciated the way Edugyun dealt with controversial topics like transracialism with care and nuance by looking at the issues around racial passing through figures such as Rachel Dolezal, Ray Springle and John Howard Griffin, who passed the other way. While the collection deals with the inevitable difficult and harrowing events of slavery and colonialism, it ultimately opens up a space for hope, not least because Edugyun’s exquisite writing breathes life back into those figures whose existence we know so little about and those whose names have been written out of history. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Exploring themes such as art, migration, identity and storytelling, Edugyun weaves personal reflections and memoir throughout. Her writing is both tender and sharp as she speculates on the lives we will never get to know and what that means for contemporary lives searching for a lost past. While every essay in this collection is clearly well researched, accessible, and beautifully written, some were unexpected and I was particularly struck by the chapter Canada and the Art of Ghosts, a reflection on ghost stories as a mode of memorial and the bias inherent in the figures we keep alive through such stories.
I felt like I learned so much from this book and I really appreciated the way Edugyun dealt with controversial topics like transracialism with care and nuance by looking at the issues around racial passing through figures such as Rachel Dolezal, Ray Springle and John Howard Griffin, who passed the other way. While the collection deals with the inevitable difficult and harrowing events of slavery and colonialism, it ultimately opens up a space for hope, not least because Edugyun’s exquisite writing breathes life back into those figures whose existence we know so little about and those whose names have been written out of history. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Slavery
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