Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement

“Unbound” by Tarana Burke
CW: This book contains depictions of sexual assault, domestic violence, gaslighting, coercion, and gun violence.
Before Alyssa Milano’s #metoo tweet spread like wildfire around the internet in 2017, Black activist and sexual assault survivor Tarana Burke had been doing the work. Raised in a complicated family dynamic and facing early traumas, Burke found her footing in youth leadership and programming only to discover that at every turn children, especially young Black girls, faced similar traumas without support. This book at first feels like it’s going to be the history of the #metoo movement before Milano, before its internet popularity. And to some degree it is. But really this is Burke’s story, the necessary articulation of Burke’s experience as a Black woman which gave her drive to start the movement. Burke writes in a voice that is direct, unflinching, and doesn’t waste time with the elaborate or the elegant. From a literary aesthetics perspective, I sometimes found myself wishing for different language choices or a more consistent theme of metaphors/similes. But this book still has the intended impact and then some, charging readers with a sense of responsibility to extend the work of #metoo without forgetting its roots. There is a lot to consider not only about how we address sexual assault as a culture but also the way we (fail to) acknowledge the work of Black women who are so often ahead of the curve on advocacy.

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stephmcoakley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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flowchelle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring tense fast-paced

4.5

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guperez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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reviewsandreadathons's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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toofondofbooks_'s review

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dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Wow. Just WOW. This memoir by Tarana Burke, who is the founder of the #MeToo movement, has written a memoir that belongs on your shelf next to the works of Maya Angelou. This memoir reminded me of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" in its raw honesty and fantastic writing. I listened to the audiobook, and Burke's narration is heartbreaking and a joy to listen to at the same time. Sections that I thought were particularly interesting were Burke's stories about her complicated and sometimes fraught relationship with her mother and the section where she describes her discovery of the work of Maya Angelou and how she fell in love with it and saw herself in it. I love that Tarana Burke never pretends to have been a perfect person and is committed to writing a real memoir with her highs, lows, wins and losses with honesty. If you have ever been interested in this woman and / or how the Me Too movement came to be, you should pick this up

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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