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_cataluminium_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Everybody should read this book. What an amazing, moving, powerful memoir about the broken world we live in. Although this was written in 2020, it remains relevant to the climate in America today.
oceanvuongfan's review against another edition
5.0
One of the beautiful things about this memoir is that Valerie’s storytelling encompasses a vast multitude of individuals—fellow peers, childhood best friends, Sikhs and Muslims, victims of hate crimes and violence, first responders to 9/11, attorneys, reporters and media, police officers, religious leaders, elected officials, professors, medical practitioners, those who’ve been incarcerated, correctional officers, domestic terrorists, right-wing nationalists, her abuser, her lover, her family—in pursuit of reflecting on, negotiating, understanding, and sharing her own personal narrative.
Kaur recounts the waves of tragedy and grief seen after 9/11, when seemingly endless acts of domestic terror were enacted unabatedly against South Asian Americans, whose dignity and humanity were stripped away overnight after the towers fell. Her memoir brings you along with her, as she travels across America, post-9/11, documenting and interviewing those who became victims of this rising hate and increasing violence.
Her work in activism and grassroots organizing ultimately results in the birth of the concept, Revolutionary Love. This is a love that allows you to forgive, frees you from hate, and affords you joy in life, no matter what circumstances you may be encountering. Revolutionary love is something Kaur witnesses time and time again, after every tragedy, after every hate crime. The victims express feelings of compassion, forgiveness, and peace, despite being overwhelmed with compounding death and loss. They pray for perpetrators of these crimes, and they express forgiveness while in the court of law. This sort of love is powerful and rooted in an empathy most of us may never truly internalize and practice but could stand to learn from.
A mantra that appears regularly throughout the book is: “You are a part of me I do not yet know.” This is to say: “I see no stranger, and I see no enemy around me. I am because you are, and you are part of what I see as ‘we’ and ‘us.’” This was my biggest takeaway as I finished each subsequent chapter of this memoir. The fear and hate of this world are rooted in lack of empathy, compassion, curiosity, care, and love. It is a radical and revolutionary thing to be able to hold these feelings for others, especially when others do not honor you in the same way. It’s far from easy, but it isn’t supposed to be.
Kaur recounts the waves of tragedy and grief seen after 9/11, when seemingly endless acts of domestic terror were enacted unabatedly against South Asian Americans, whose dignity and humanity were stripped away overnight after the towers fell. Her memoir brings you along with her, as she travels across America, post-9/11, documenting and interviewing those who became victims of this rising hate and increasing violence.
Her work in activism and grassroots organizing ultimately results in the birth of the concept, Revolutionary Love. This is a love that allows you to forgive, frees you from hate, and affords you joy in life, no matter what circumstances you may be encountering. Revolutionary love is something Kaur witnesses time and time again, after every tragedy, after every hate crime. The victims express feelings of compassion, forgiveness, and peace, despite being overwhelmed with compounding death and loss. They pray for perpetrators of these crimes, and they express forgiveness while in the court of law. This sort of love is powerful and rooted in an empathy most of us may never truly internalize and practice but could stand to learn from.
A mantra that appears regularly throughout the book is: “You are a part of me I do not yet know.” This is to say: “I see no stranger, and I see no enemy around me. I am because you are, and you are part of what I see as ‘we’ and ‘us.’” This was my biggest takeaway as I finished each subsequent chapter of this memoir. The fear and hate of this world are rooted in lack of empathy, compassion, curiosity, care, and love. It is a radical and revolutionary thing to be able to hold these feelings for others, especially when others do not honor you in the same way. It’s far from easy, but it isn’t supposed to be.
leilani515's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a reminder that we need to focus on the big picture. It is filled with lessons and tips to help birth real sustained change.
alyssajp's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Pregnancy
mmmubecrinkles's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
is0belr0se's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
kendragaylelee's review against another edition
5.0
See No Stranger isn't just a book I read. It is a book that has profoundly shifted the way I see the world. In particular, the way I grapple with adversity, grief, and trauma (both my own and that unfolding on the world stage).
In fact, if I could give every graduating college senior any book, it would be this one. Because we need the kind of idealism that people in their early 20s hold about the world at large, but we have to teach them (and ourselves) how to both run toward pain and how to care for ourselves and each other in the midst of that pain. We all need to know how to love the world without burning out in a white hot flame. How to draw others close to us, to protect them, to love them the way they need and want to be loved.
Reading this book made me more human. And it reminded me that their is beauty in all religious traditions. That the sacred guides and shapes us. And that ritual (for both embracing and releasing) is crucial to our humanity.
This book is full of hope and practical steps to take to love other people (people who are not like us in some way, people we have been taught to "other," even people we might be inclined to hate). And it's full of beautiful, personal illustrations about what it might look like to really, really love ourselves. Completely. Once and for all.
In fact, if I could give every graduating college senior any book, it would be this one. Because we need the kind of idealism that people in their early 20s hold about the world at large, but we have to teach them (and ourselves) how to both run toward pain and how to care for ourselves and each other in the midst of that pain. We all need to know how to love the world without burning out in a white hot flame. How to draw others close to us, to protect them, to love them the way they need and want to be loved.
Reading this book made me more human. And it reminded me that their is beauty in all religious traditions. That the sacred guides and shapes us. And that ritual (for both embracing and releasing) is crucial to our humanity.
This book is full of hope and practical steps to take to love other people (people who are not like us in some way, people we have been taught to "other," even people we might be inclined to hate). And it's full of beautiful, personal illustrations about what it might look like to really, really love ourselves. Completely. Once and for all.