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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
I have had this book on my TBR list since it came out and I’m so glad I got around to it now more than ever While I could definitely read this in the form of a nonfiction, essay or research paper, there’s something about the graphic novel format that pulls me into this world.
Hall’s work is a game changer if not for the veneration of our ancestors who fought and resisted in various ways. As a Black woman graduate student myself, I know too well how navigating spaces — living in the wake (word to Christina Sharpe) acts as its own battleground. Without risk of shoving my degree (African-American Studies) down folks’ necks, I’m just gonna say that the wake is a tumultuous space where we must reckon with our position as Black people in the Americas.
How better to honor those who came before by passing on their stories. To give names to numbers on a document or unrecorded people. Despite its bastardized usage in certain (right) spaces, “woke” is a call to action, to be reminded of who we are and why we are here.
I hope others who read this book will fight for our future, just like those in the past.
This was a fascinating read. I didn’t read a synopsis before diving in and for that reason I believe my expectations may have been off. I expected back to back narratives of women leading slave revolts. This is not that. While slave revolts are featured in the text, the broader story is the author’s memoir (really focusing on the PhD research and how it relates to her family) as well as the system of slavery and its impacts throughout centuries. I was disappointed by the number of stories but I was enlightened by the details, particularly why slave revolts on ships happened when there were more women present. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the narrative of “badass women doing badass things”, but this is not that. These were people placed in an excruciating and traumatizing situation who often would rather face a death they chose than the death (or life) that was waiting for them in a foreign land. How excruciatingly terrible that must be. There are really no words. Dr Hall does a wonderful job of painting a picture of their humanity when historical logs refuse to do little more than assign them a number. The humanity was not what I was expecting, but what I read on for.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Absolutely incredible. Cannot recommend this enough. An engaging, thoughtful, and game changing take on historiography, feminism, identity, and ancestry. Lovely, just lovely. I can’t wait to teach this book sometime!
A dive into the erasure of black female slaves and an author's quest for answers through history.
Equal parts memoir, history, and speculation come together to contribute to the question of black women's roles in slave revolts. The story follows Rebecca as she researches the archives of many places to piece together the story of female slaves who led revolts but whose narratives were erased.
Readers will enjoy the balance of Dr. Rebeccas Hall's own story of researching the topic and her family history. They will face the uncomfortable truth digging into this history reveals and the questions that continue to be unanswered. There are copies of historical documents included in many of the stories and clarification where speculations are made. The flow of the story is continuous with the illustrations carrying the narrative throughout the book. The only issue I had while reading is at times the text appeared shaky like a person's handwriting, which in some ways is reflective of the emotions the author may have experienced while writing the scene. (So that may be intentional)
The illustrations perfectly capture the emotions, action, and symbolism in each panel. There is as much to analyze in each illustration as there is to process in the reading. The black and white coloring balances the somberness of the story very well. There is a good balance of text to illustration in the book, often allowing the illustrations to carry the message that words cannot. The transition between timeframes is well captured in the images and clearly labeled in the text.
This is a good read on a challenging topic. Readers will appreciate the breaks in the text to gather the emotions of the character in the narrative described.
Equal parts memoir, history, and speculation come together to contribute to the question of black women's roles in slave revolts. The story follows Rebecca as she researches the archives of many places to piece together the story of female slaves who led revolts but whose narratives were erased.
Readers will enjoy the balance of Dr. Rebeccas Hall's own story of researching the topic and her family history. They will face the uncomfortable truth digging into this history reveals and the questions that continue to be unanswered. There are copies of historical documents included in many of the stories and clarification where speculations are made. The flow of the story is continuous with the illustrations carrying the narrative throughout the book. The only issue I had while reading is at times the text appeared shaky like a person's handwriting, which in some ways is reflective of the emotions the author may have experienced while writing the scene. (So that may be intentional)
The illustrations perfectly capture the emotions, action, and symbolism in each panel. There is as much to analyze in each illustration as there is to process in the reading. The black and white coloring balances the somberness of the story very well. There is a good balance of text to illustration in the book, often allowing the illustrations to carry the message that words cannot. The transition between timeframes is well captured in the images and clearly labeled in the text.
This is a good read on a challenging topic. Readers will appreciate the breaks in the text to gather the emotions of the character in the narrative described.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Library Book
4 stars / history, memoir
Creative, poignant, imaginative graphic memoir. Totally brilliant. I had to read it twice as there is so much to appreciate in the phenomenal art and messages of the author telling her story. I did have a bit of difficulty with the font.
I would highly recommend.
4 stars / history, memoir
Creative, poignant, imaginative graphic memoir. Totally brilliant. I had to read it twice as there is so much to appreciate in the phenomenal art and messages of the author telling her story. I did have a bit of difficulty with the font.
I would highly recommend.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Wake is part memoir and part historical events. Rebecca Hall is a professor doing research on women leading slave revolts. It depicts her struggles and road blocks in trying to find this information whether security is preventing her from going into the archives to find the truth or because past historians didn't deem some things as necessary to write down. I think putting this type of content in a graphic novel is great because it's easy to read through and you still learn from it. I actually learned a lot from this novel, It's full of a lot of emotion from tears and rage as we learn about the women fighting for their lives. I think this is an important graphic novel and would definitely recommend people to check this one out.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.