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Reviews
Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History by Camille T. Dungy
vgmsonnet's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up Guidebook to Relative Strangers for its writing on motherhood and nature and I’m so glad I did. These gave me a foothold of entry into Ms. Dungy’s resonant and thought-provoking writing on race, history, and community. This is not a light read, but well worthwhile; I will be revisiting it for a long time to come.
francescamoroney's review against another edition
4.0
Although I initially felt my reaction to these essays to be a bit tepid, by the time I finished the collection, I marveled at the way Dungy is able to write with such clarity and conviction about the way motherhood both expands and contracts a woman’s perspective. It’s an important read for all of us who are mothers, and for all of us who wish for a more equitable world.
erin_dodge's review
5.0
I loved this book- poetic, humorous, bittersweet, reflective, with a soaring range of thought and ideas and surprising connections.
bettyreads's review
5.0
Appreciate book club oh so much, even virtually we are able to really share how the book impacted us and having Camille there tonight was even more special. To be able to ask about her writing and I really appreciated the way she used language and how her daughter influenced her as a writer and how in these essays with what she shares about her experiences as a Black woman in this world, you are able to understand. The feeling of otherness and how for her as she shared she always feels like the other and how during our convo tonight folks got deep about that and it's just appreciated because these conversations are not had enough. About how the title of this book states we can be strangers even if we're relatives or more kin with those folks who aren't blood related, so just the journey that life takes you on and gosh I'm excited to ready her poetry because the way Camille writes was just my favorite.
moosegurl's review
4.0
"Americans often don't care much about the things that concern people who aren't like them."
"A person who isn't reminded several times a day about the implications of the color of her skin has time to consider the implications of other things."
"One of the easiest ways to strip a person of her power is to take away her right to choose her name."
"Such an enactment of estrangement, to live in a country where the vote of 90 percent of your community has no practical effect."
"Formula companies buy birth records from hospitals or the county, and they use these to identify the addresses of new parents. When samples started arriving, I wondered what it must be like to suffer a stillbirth or a sudden infant death and receive formula, unbidden, in the mail. For such parents, the engine of capitalism must propel an unyielding grief."
"When I write about nature, I am writing about loss."
"Perhaps home is memory."
"Try as I might to lose myself to something larger, I'm always reminded of the boundaries of the body; we are bound by gender; we are bound by appearance; we are bound by race. These are ways human history cross-pollinates all my interactions."
"A person who isn't reminded several times a day about the implications of the color of her skin has time to consider the implications of other things."
"One of the easiest ways to strip a person of her power is to take away her right to choose her name."
"Such an enactment of estrangement, to live in a country where the vote of 90 percent of your community has no practical effect."
"Formula companies buy birth records from hospitals or the county, and they use these to identify the addresses of new parents. When samples started arriving, I wondered what it must be like to suffer a stillbirth or a sudden infant death and receive formula, unbidden, in the mail. For such parents, the engine of capitalism must propel an unyielding grief."
"When I write about nature, I am writing about loss."
"Perhaps home is memory."
"Try as I might to lose myself to something larger, I'm always reminded of the boundaries of the body; we are bound by gender; we are bound by appearance; we are bound by race. These are ways human history cross-pollinates all my interactions."
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