bookbuyingwithkatie's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
breakablecatepillar's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
katewutz's review against another edition
We named this one of the best nonfiction reads of 2021 at Literary Transgressions! Mini-review here: https://literarytransgressions.wordpress.com/2021/12/23/our-2021-year-in-reading-genre-reads/
savidgereads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
apatrick's review against another edition
5.0
Great book to read in February and March, African-American History month and Women's History month. At times, this feels like a book for popular audiences, and at times it feels more like a thesis or dissertation, but either way, it was highly informative. The author talks about her personal struggles with her hair, set into the larger story of what most Black women must go through.
I grew up in a very white area, but in the past several years, I've worked with a lot of black women. No, I've never had the urge to ask to touch their hair, but I've often been jealous of how easily they seem to be able to change their hairstyles in a drastic fashion. That's just not something I can do, except for dye and gel. I wouldn't know where to start! Now I have a better understanding, though. Black hair just requires more time and effort that European hair. If you're going to have to spend the time and effort anyway, you have a lot more options.
I hope to read more books like this, not just about issues that affect Black people, but about the unique aspects of all different types of culture. There are a lot of things we just don't talk about much in our society, which is crazy, because we're so multi-cultural. But it's hard for people to find the line between talking about common experiences that one group of people might have and stereotyping that group. Dabiri does that well, here, talking about the range of textures of Black hair, and discussing, in depth, how those differences affect experience. The historical context is presented thoroughly, but without becoming boring.
I grew up in a very white area, but in the past several years, I've worked with a lot of black women. No, I've never had the urge to ask to touch their hair, but I've often been jealous of how easily they seem to be able to change their hairstyles in a drastic fashion. That's just not something I can do, except for dye and gel. I wouldn't know where to start! Now I have a better understanding, though. Black hair just requires more time and effort that European hair. If you're going to have to spend the time and effort anyway, you have a lot more options.
I hope to read more books like this, not just about issues that affect Black people, but about the unique aspects of all different types of culture. There are a lot of things we just don't talk about much in our society, which is crazy, because we're so multi-cultural. But it's hard for people to find the line between talking about common experiences that one group of people might have and stereotyping that group. Dabiri does that well, here, talking about the range of textures of Black hair, and discussing, in depth, how those differences affect experience. The historical context is presented thoroughly, but without becoming boring.
althea's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing! I think everyone should pick this up! Four stars because the last chapter completely lost me with all the maths and coding, but that's a me problem not a 'the book' problem!