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A review by readingwithcarla
Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and Resilience by Veronica Gorrie
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I could not put this one down, Veronica Gorrie guides readers through a perspective on Australia that we like to keep hushed, the systemic racism and the large, classist divide between colonialists and the traditional custodians of the land.
The writing is very accessible, and I wish this book was pushed out more to the Australian public. I Gorrie continues a very important conversation on how our system is structured. How can we change something when you must fit into this incredibly flawed system just to climb to the top? Our system benefits from white privilege and benefits from police members making judgements based on prejudice and racism. Violence is overlooked and hidden from the public eye when anyone in uniform can be seen at fault.
The only thing I wish the novel could improve on was the organisation and structure. Often a chapter would begin talking about Gorrie's relationship with someone in her life, and then the chapter would veer off on a completely different topic. This would make me confused - thinking I may have skipped pages but no, just an editorial issue. I did like how the book was structured into two parts: 'Black' for Gorrie's childhood, and 'Blue' for her time in the police force. This worked particularly well when talking on a linear timeline in 'Black', making every section even easier to follow. This well-structured expectation set out for the reader was then dismantled when 'Blue' took more of a thematic approach. It was, admittedly, confusing to read at first. But if this is the only thing that I found at fault personally, it was a bloody good novel otherwise. I believe this is a very important book that more Aussies should know more about.
The writing is very accessible, and I wish this book was pushed out more to the Australian public. I Gorrie continues a very important conversation on how our system is structured. How can we change something when you must fit into this incredibly flawed system just to climb to the top? Our system benefits from white privilege and benefits from police members making judgements based on prejudice and racism. Violence is overlooked and hidden from the public eye when anyone in uniform can be seen at fault.
The only thing I wish the novel could improve on was the organisation and structure. Often a chapter would begin talking about Gorrie's relationship with someone in her life, and then the chapter would veer off on a completely different topic. This would make me confused - thinking I may have skipped pages but no, just an editorial issue. I did like how the book was structured into two parts: 'Black' for Gorrie's childhood, and 'Blue' for her time in the police force. This worked particularly well when talking on a linear timeline in 'Black', making every section even easier to follow. This well-structured expectation set out for the reader was then dismantled when 'Blue' took more of a thematic approach. It was, admittedly, confusing to read at first. But if this is the only thing that I found at fault personally, it was a bloody good novel otherwise. I believe this is a very important book that more Aussies should know more about.