Reviews

Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim by Leah Vernon

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daniimcc's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

koby's review

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2.0

I wasn't familiar with the author before I grabbed this at the library, but I've since scrolled thru her Instagram. This book was not great, in my opinion. If it wasn't such a quick read, I'd have stopped reading it after a few essays. The stories themselves had potential, and there were moments, but overall this writing felt unpolished. Often too much detail was given on an unimportant aspect. A lot of the essays felt aimless. Eventually, the author got there, but they took the long (not scenic, just long) route. Now that I've read her Instagram captions, I think that is where her talent lies, in those micro stories of a long caption. But in essays, it did not work.

thelovelylibrarylady's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Unashamed is one of my favorite nonfiction books that I read this year. Leah Vernon, a body-positive model and content creator, did a wonderful job detailing her experiences with the world due to different aspects of her identity. I learned a lot from her stories and even saw myself in a few of them despite our differences. Vernon had me laughing, crying, and feeling all the emotions in between while reading her memoir and I cannot recommend this title enough.

tklassy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

2.75

I really, really, really wanted to like this. I loved Leah's voice. I loved the messages that Leah's story was saying. But.. I am not sure. I am not sure why, but the story just didn't hit me. Maybe it was the wrong time for me to read it?
I purposefully read the book over a couple of weeks, so that I had time to sit with it. And I have not rated this book a 2.75 out of spite, or hatred or overall dislike. Just compared to other things that I have read this year it sat on the OK-ness of a 2.75 star book. I read a library copy but would love to buy and read this book again in the future because I know it's good. And that it just wasn't for me at this time.

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