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A review by tomesandtextiles
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A book just as much about the frantic, sweaty dissolution of the self in the mosh pit as much as it is about the fragility and singularity of the human experience, particularly what it is to be Black and exist in a world that does not value you. Poingnant, poetic, self-reflective, forward-looking, Hanif Abdurraqib is a vital voice in processing culture today. This book is necessary and as close to perfect as I could have imagined after reading A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance.
Abdurraquib is a maestro of evoking emotions over his observations of the world, even if you purport not to care about the subject. As one reviewer said, I never expected to cry while reading an essay about Fall Out Boy, yet here I am. I've never even purposefully listened to a FOB song and yet the essay Fall Out Boy Forever had me listening to their music so I could hear them through Hanif's sharp observation.
I've said it before, but my favorite sub-genre of book is nonfiction written by poets, especially when that poet is Abdurraquib. With his incredible grasp of language and metaphor, Hanif distills his observations into salient emotions and points that grasp at universal truths as they do to his individual experiences. He has such a tremendous talent at interweaving his autobiography into his reviews so knock the wind out of you with his conclusions. Every. Single. Time.
If you love music, if you pay attention to pop culture and politics, if you strive to read works that are transcendentally empathetic, please, please, please, read this book.
Abdurraquib is a maestro of evoking emotions over his observations of the world, even if you purport not to care about the subject. As one reviewer said, I never expected to cry while reading an essay about Fall Out Boy, yet here I am. I've never even purposefully listened to a FOB song and yet the essay Fall Out Boy Forever had me listening to their music so I could hear them through Hanif's sharp observation.
I've said it before, but my favorite sub-genre of book is nonfiction written by poets, especially when that poet is Abdurraquib. With his incredible grasp of language and metaphor, Hanif distills his observations into salient emotions and points that grasp at universal truths as they do to his individual experiences. He has such a tremendous talent at interweaving his autobiography into his reviews so knock the wind out of you with his conclusions. Every. Single. Time.
If you love music, if you pay attention to pop culture and politics, if you strive to read works that are transcendentally empathetic, please, please, please, read this book.