Reviews - The Hate Race | The StoryGraph

Witty, intelligent and lucid memoir of a Clarke's experience of racism woven into her otherwise happy and 'typical' Australian childhood growing up in the 1980s/90s in suburban Sydney as the child of a black British Jamaican couple . Some of it is overt and vicious (bullying by students and denial by teachers) but more often it is an all pervasive sense of otherness, of difference of 'you don't come from here', 'you are black & a thing of nature'. Yet Clarke is generous and humerous. She writes the tale of what this means, of how the racism impacts into her life, of how she responds. Her lucid writing resonates with the wisdom of a memoir, the pace of a poem and creates a luminous portrait of Australian life.

jess_m_currie's review against another edition

4.0

The Hate Race is a powerful memoir and important reflection on Australia’s shameful and deeply ingrained racism. Maxine Beneba Clarke, a widely published and highly lauded Australian poet and writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, recalls the early years of her suburban Sydney life in a manner that is factual and effortless.

The frontrunner for this year's Stella Prize.

Full review now up on Dogeared Reviews.

alexinnit's review against another edition

5.0

An eye-opening insight into the experience of a black family in Australian suburbia. A must-read for me.

lainie80's review against another edition

4.0

Was on track for 5 stars but I felt that the ending was a bit patchy and rushed. Aside from that, I thought it was brilliant.

maggiezhou's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

A beautiful Australian memoir. Heartbreaking and eye-opening. I do wish it extended past teen years though.

livvywivvy's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

should be mandatory reading honestly

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