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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
The weight of this book is difficult to underestimate, but is already well-summarized in other reviews. Instead I’ll say that I was surprised at how much of this book is about how women scare him. When people talk about his charisma and character, I just assumed that he would know how to talk to women. The fear varies from overt sexism to the charming awkwardness of meeting his wife, which was wonderfully human.
Still a great book!
Still a great book!
"Whether you use bullets or ballots, you've got to aim well; don't strike at the puppet, strike at the puppeteer." - Malcolm X
What a fascinating look in to the life of one of the most important figures of the 20th century. The book starts in Malcolm’s boyhood, from his life in Lansing to his move to becoming an adult in Roxbury. Some of his stories of his time as a drug dealer and pimp are humorous, some are outrageous, and others still are downright terrifying. No matter how outlandish or mundane the story, Malcolm speaks with the same wit, the same shrewd intelligence, and the same pragmatic outlook on his own mortality. It certainly helps that Laurence Fishburne does an INCREDIBLE job with the audio. Nothing short of outstanding. His voice is so alive I can almost see Malcolm’s mannerisms in different scenes, even though there’s no description of such a thing. I feel like I’m sitting across the table from him, listening to his story.
It’s also important to note the role Alex Haley played in this book. Haley is a collaborator in this, and his input and narrative voice are a powerful tool to hone Malcolm’s many stories and intellectual and ideological views.
Malcolm approaches his life before his conversion to the Nation of Islam with a frankness and objectivity, and without disdain or regret. And after he does convert, the transition from hero-worship of Elijah Mohammed to an ideological worship of the fundamentals of Islam as moral principles, rather than the teachings of its fallible human figurehead, is fascinating. Indeed, all of his metamorphoses as a man, and the metamorphoses of his ideals, are extraordinary.
There is so much to say and analyze about this man and his life, but what stuck out to me was that at the end of the day, Malcolm X is a man of ideas. He is a scholar. If you strip away the religious and moral ideology, the views that are a product of his time and circumstances, the crises of faith, this is a man who loves to think. To dissect and discuss and philosophize. But of course, why would you take away the ideologies, the crises and the circumstances, as all of those things are what make him one of the most important activists of the last century? I will never know exactly which parts of this book are veritable truth and which are a more fictitious narrative to create the idea of Malcolm X. I disagree with many of his views on women and Jews, and indeed, with many of the Nation of Islam’s ideas on Jews and homosexuality, amongst other things. But it is still a masterfully crafted autobiography. Malcolm X’s ideas on blackness and whiteness, on race and indignity, on performative justice and radical liberation, have had a profound impact on me, and have made me think, perhaps more than any other biography or autobiography has done before.
It’s also important to note the role Alex Haley played in this book. Haley is a collaborator in this, and his input and narrative voice are a powerful tool to hone Malcolm’s many stories and intellectual and ideological views.
Malcolm approaches his life before his conversion to the Nation of Islam with a frankness and objectivity, and without disdain or regret. And after he does convert, the transition from hero-worship of Elijah Mohammed to an ideological worship of the fundamentals of Islam as moral principles, rather than the teachings of its fallible human figurehead, is fascinating. Indeed, all of his metamorphoses as a man, and the metamorphoses of his ideals, are extraordinary.
There is so much to say and analyze about this man and his life, but what stuck out to me was that at the end of the day, Malcolm X is a man of ideas. He is a scholar. If you strip away the religious and moral ideology, the views that are a product of his time and circumstances, the crises of faith, this is a man who loves to think. To dissect and discuss and philosophize. But of course, why would you take away the ideologies, the crises and the circumstances, as all of those things are what make him one of the most important activists of the last century? I will never know exactly which parts of this book are veritable truth and which are a more fictitious narrative to create the idea of Malcolm X. I disagree with many of his views on women and Jews, and indeed, with many of the Nation of Islam’s ideas on Jews and homosexuality, amongst other things. But it is still a masterfully crafted autobiography. Malcolm X’s ideas on blackness and whiteness, on race and indignity, on performative justice and radical liberation, have had a profound impact on me, and have made me think, perhaps more than any other biography or autobiography has done before.
The best book I've read and probably will ever again. I think that if more people read this book, they would stop talking all this crap about how Malcolm X was evil and a racist. Awesome book! R.I.P Malcolm
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Truly a life-changing read. A story that cuts through to the heart & leaves you with profound reflection.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
inspiring
medium-paced