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myriadreads's review against another edition
5.0
I read this whole collection with a tight grip on the book.
Rankine begins by setting a scene: You're too tired for any of your devices, lying down, but your mind is not at rest. A memory could be triggered by a smell, leading to another association. Suddenly you're thinking about all of those moments over the years, mind flowing from one to the next.
Rankine's prose poems are written in second person, and that "you" voice brings the reader right into various situations from awkward to outrageous, where the narrator's blackness is thrown into sharp relief against a white background. It's shocking, cringe-worthy, and in many cases familiar. You've seen it, heard it, been there before. You remember the joke that a white friend cracked with a sideways look to see how you would react.
An essay on the experience of tennis star Serena Williams, and her experience in a very white sport, widened my eyes with disbelief. I recognized the name, of course, because both sisters are stars. I don't follow tennis closely enough that I was familiar with the outrageous calls, disrespectful commentators, and outright mockery that Serena has faced.
As a writer, I saw new ways here to approach personal experiences on the page. It hurt to read this. But it's important, and it's part of a larger discussion that needs to be happening between as many citizens as possible.
Rankine begins by setting a scene: You're too tired for any of your devices, lying down, but your mind is not at rest. A memory could be triggered by a smell, leading to another association. Suddenly you're thinking about all of those moments over the years, mind flowing from one to the next.
Rankine's prose poems are written in second person, and that "you" voice brings the reader right into various situations from awkward to outrageous, where the narrator's blackness is thrown into sharp relief against a white background. It's shocking, cringe-worthy, and in many cases familiar. You've seen it, heard it, been there before. You remember the joke that a white friend cracked with a sideways look to see how you would react.
An essay on the experience of tennis star Serena Williams, and her experience in a very white sport, widened my eyes with disbelief. I recognized the name, of course, because both sisters are stars. I don't follow tennis closely enough that I was familiar with the outrageous calls, disrespectful commentators, and outright mockery that Serena has faced.
As a writer, I saw new ways here to approach personal experiences on the page. It hurt to read this. But it's important, and it's part of a larger discussion that needs to be happening between as many citizens as possible.
herblueglasses's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
bexduck's review against another edition
4.0
"Before making the video How to Be a Successful Black Artist, Hennessy Youngman uploaded to YouTube How to Be a Successful Artist. While putting forward the argument that one needs to be white to be truly successful, he adds, in an aside, that this might not work for blacks because if "a nigger paints a flower it becomes a slavery flower, flower de Amistad," thereby intimating that any relationship between the white viewer and the black artist immediately becomes one between white persons and black property, which was the legal state of things once upon a time, as Patricia Williams has pointed out in The Alchemy of Race and Rights: "The cold game of equality staring makes me feel like a thin sheet of glass.... I could force my presence, the real me contained in those eyes, upon them, but I would be smashed in the process.""
This was one of the more striking passages for me as a white reader. It begs the question of how I can view Black art without commodifying it. I don't know if deconstructing that power structure is possible, but to be aware of it might be something. This book, I think, is mostly poetic prose exploring Black pain and rage when it is no longer contained enough to be commodified. And what does that do to the Black body and Black consciousness housed within? Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's easy for white Americans to comfort Black pain historically because it requires no self reflection. Books like these demonstrate the white moderate still has a long way to go.
This was one of the more striking passages for me as a white reader. It begs the question of how I can view Black art without commodifying it. I don't know if deconstructing that power structure is possible, but to be aware of it might be something. This book, I think, is mostly poetic prose exploring Black pain and rage when it is no longer contained enough to be commodified. And what does that do to the Black body and Black consciousness housed within? Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's easy for white Americans to comfort Black pain historically because it requires no self reflection. Books like these demonstrate the white moderate still has a long way to go.
danileighta's review against another edition
5.0
Power in few words and few pages. Clear and intense portraits of what Black in a white supremacist (American) culture looks like, is experienced like.
For anyone who appreciates lyrical writing, but especially those who want to understand and dismantle systems of oppression.
For anyone who appreciates lyrical writing, but especially those who want to understand and dismantle systems of oppression.
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
This poetic prose is an invitation into the experience of racial "otherness" for those with the privilege not to know it, and a compassionate reflection for those who live it every day. This should be assigned reading to all Americans in this day.
crestun's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.5
Masterclass in communication of ideas without being scared to get artistic and weird. Seamless.
laurenkara's review against another edition
4.0
Claudia Rankine is brilliantly unapologetic in Citizen and rightfully so. This really helped open my eyes even more to the injustices that black people all over the world are facing. Their anger is valid and understandable. I'll admit this isn't my usual style of poetry and a lot of these went over my head a little, but that doesn't make them any less important. As I was reading I kept thinking how I couldn't relate and then that made me realise even more just how privileged I am as a white person. I don't need to worry about facing all the injustices that Claudia and other black people constantly face. I'm really glad I read this! It's super important and I recommend you all check it out.