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hannawrites_1's review against another edition
5.0
Tales of two Americas presents 36 essays, poems & short stories by Rebecca Solnit, Joyce Carol Oates, Julia Alvarez, etc. on inequality / systemic injustice & racism in today's society. America is a divided nation where for many, the American dream is impossible to achieve. In 2021, Robert Reich wrote: “Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk now own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans combined.” This book is an urgent call for change & should be required reading for all US high school students.
mollyculhane's review against another edition
4.0
This was a quick, pleasant palate cleanser book. It worked very well as an anthology--it was really interesting to have essays, memoir, reporting, short stories, poetry, and even a comic gathered together, and the theme of American inequality felt broad enough to encompass them all but tight enough to cohere. The only chapter that made me roll my eyes was "American Work" by Richard Russo, which isn't bad in a collection of 36. My favorites were "White Debt" by Eula Biss, "Mobility" by Julia Alvarez, "Some Houses (Various Stages of Dissolve)" by Claire Vaye Watkins, "How" by Roxane Gay, "Looking for a Home" by Karen Russell, and "La Ciudad Mágica" by Patricia Engel.
jackieeh's review against another edition
3.0
This read like an anthology, but I definitely loved the ones I loved.
yunghyae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
janicew9's review against another edition
5.0
An insightful and deeply enjoyable collection of essays on life in this (2017) america
ndalum's review against another edition
4.0
I won't write of the political meanings of this book but I would like to remind others to have empathy and try to understand what others go through.
lectrice's review against another edition
4.0
3.5: Uneven collection, with some outstanding selections and others I skimmed or skipped.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
3.0
Read this as prep for Tales of Two Planets, and thought it was alright! I think I enjoyed the fiction the most, some of the essays by white people felt like they were, I dunno, maybe not coming from the voices I needed to hear in this anthology. Claire Vaye Watkins' piece is amazing, of course. Onto Trick Mirror!
haloform's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.25
Any anthology will have variation in quality across the pieces in it, but the variation in this particular book is stunning. The stories range from beautifully written and emotional stoties (dosas, fault lines, some houses, la ciudad mágica, enough to lose) to informative and emotional writing (blood brother, american arithmetic) to absolutely apalling and seemingly counter to all the book has to say. some of the latter are death by gentrification (usage of police brutality for shock value), american work (pitying trump supporters and claiming they voted for him because he promised jobs), white debt (a white woman trying to distance herself from her white guilt, featuring her saying the n word), and invisible wounds (pitying veterans from the war in the middle east). These stories all embody what this anthology should be fighting against; they ignore race issues or take advantage of the suffering of minorities or pity people responsible for carrying american imperialism to the middle east. some of the writing in this is incredible, but the rest is apallingly liberal and ignorant.