nick_jenkins's review against another edition
5.0
Emotionally and intellectually draining, but also exhilarating, germinal. Most of the book is not easily paraphrased or condensed, but here is a passage that I think sums at least one of the bigger points Row makes:
"White people–even those committed, in theory, to the struggle against white supremacy–do not know how to share power. White people do not know how to let white supremacy die without feeling they themselves are dying." (272)
One of the phrases that echoed through my head while reading this is Ta-Nehisi Coates's "the people who think they are white." Like Coates, like Baldwin, Row thinks of whiteness as a kind of self-imposed spiritual malady--not as something to have pity for, but as something that we can recognize as a severe limitation or stunting. The point is definitely not to feel sorry for "the people who think they are white," and there is no individual way to give up one's whiteness, one's white privilege--that is not a way out. The point is rather, I think, to reflect on the comprehensiveness of the global ruination that the idea of whiteness has caused, a desolation so complete that it cannot escape itself.
"White people–even those committed, in theory, to the struggle against white supremacy–do not know how to share power. White people do not know how to let white supremacy die without feeling they themselves are dying." (272)
One of the phrases that echoed through my head while reading this is Ta-Nehisi Coates's "the people who think they are white." Like Coates, like Baldwin, Row thinks of whiteness as a kind of self-imposed spiritual malady--not as something to have pity for, but as something that we can recognize as a severe limitation or stunting. The point is definitely not to feel sorry for "the people who think they are white," and there is no individual way to give up one's whiteness, one's white privilege--that is not a way out. The point is rather, I think, to reflect on the comprehensiveness of the global ruination that the idea of whiteness has caused, a desolation so complete that it cannot escape itself.
lifesaverscandyofficial's review against another edition
really appreciate how theory dense this is in parts - certainly a lacking part of my lit education. slow to start, central essays pick up, and then lost me a little in the end. appreciate how the final essay comes together but almost felt a little too self-aggrandizing. wish he would have talked about at least twice as many books rather than overdiscussed staples.
saraelga's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
boylejr's review
It was not the right time in my life to read this book (busy). I liked the author's personable writing style. It was kind of dense prose at times but I liked the ideas he brought up, about the role that race plays in writing, and in thinking about writing.
arya94's review against another edition
1.0
I did not like the book at all. I was very intrigued by the topic, but the book is too slow and argumentations so little. I expected a lot, but am not satisfied at all.
nadiamsahi's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent collection, and one which I wish I had the opportunity to read as part of a class, to really delve into the topics with deep discussions on philosophy, art, literature, and of course race. While I thought all of the chapters were strong, White Out (the last chapter) was the one I enjoyed the most, in part because it allows for introspection, where most of the rest of the book had me wanting to turn to someone to ask what they thought about a particular paragraph or passage. This reads as intellectual without being inaccessible, as deeply thought out and researched as intentionally shying away from a necessarily academic audience, and I appreciated every idea put down here as one which I will continue to consider in my own reading.
eroggbyrne's review
4.0
Reading this book felt like going to a lecture with a dynamic professor when you haven't done any of the reading. Thought provoking without having read 90% of the authors he cites (and having no desire to do so!), I will be chewing on this one for a long time to come.
bettyreads's review against another edition
2.0
Don't mind me just updating my goodreads lol
this book was a lot, it's important for folks, specifically white folks, in that it gives space to interrogate whiteness, white supremacy and the whole structure.
Jess has too many references in here to things that i've never heard of so it made it feel pretty inaccessible and just esoteric in nature but hey if that's your jam, you do you.
this book was a lot, it's important for folks, specifically white folks, in that it gives space to interrogate whiteness, white supremacy and the whole structure.
Jess has too many references in here to things that i've never heard of so it made it feel pretty inaccessible and just esoteric in nature but hey if that's your jam, you do you.