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readingsofaslinky's review
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Where Citizen is essays and articulated thoughts, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely is dream states and small moments. It is dark and morbid; it is depressive. It brings you into post 9-11 America and Bush’s America. It references anxieties that keep you up at night. It muses on death. It sanctifies people like Lionel Tate and Abner Louima. Claudia Rankine keeps waking up in a fever dream that is America and these are her dream journals. Her struggles with falling asleep. Her proximity to suicide. Her collection of expirations. This was a history lesson for me and a transport back in time. I was a kid when most of the events discussed were happening— fully unaware of the terrors that go bump in America’s night. But this book transported me there—twenty years ago. I recommend you read this but do so with care. It is such a book that reminds you of loneliness but still reaches out a hand nevertheless.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Murder, Racism, Drug use, Medical content, Death, Grief, Islamophobia, and Suicidal thoughts
jaan's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This is the lyric that really made me get poetry. Deals with depression and loneliness, the poisonous nature of the American medical system, forced overconsumption of media, racial dynamics post-9/11 America, late-stage capitalism, death and dying, and Black mourning. The most important book I read in 2021. In terms of poetry, Claudia Rankine redefines lyric poetics. This is a stunning collection of poetry and one you will reread over and over with new revelations each time.
Be warned that this narrative is not cohesive. It is fragmented and broken, much like the narrator herself.
Be warned that this narrative is not cohesive. It is fragmented and broken, much like the narrator herself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Racism
valyn_grebe's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
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