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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
I am a huge fan of Issa Rae's work so I was really surprised to have this fall as flat as it did. Where did this go wrong? It's hard to say.
Like her comedy peer Phoebe Robinson, she seems to have a fearlessness when it comes to poking fun at herself and mining past mistakes/embarrassments for comedy and I respect that. Without that we couldn't have had Awkward Black Girl, after all. But Phoebe's stories have a core--a comedic core, an emotional core, sometimes she will even wallop you with a social justice message at the core. With this collection, I felt like this was often missing. If anything, I feel like she was almost purposely going out of her way to share something with absolutely no takeaway.
And then sometimes the message you leave with is not something I think she intended. This book was a surprising education for me in how much affluence she comes from. And.. good for her, I guess, but she doesn't seem to have any self awareness of how some of the things she's sharing comes off. Like normally someone's dad doesn't just fund $10,000 of filming equipment and multiple trips between the U. S. and Senegal (her father's home country) arent usually referred to as casually as say, a plane trip between Chicago and St. Louis. I was really hoping on getting more about developing ABG and there's just not much there. Now I'm thinking it's because things just fell into place.
The toughest chapter is probably "The Struggle." As much as I want to be on her side, and I kind of get what she's trying to say does she *really* wonder why some of her peers who "talk, think, or breathe" race do it? Yes, they *are* exhausted, but they, and many people they know don't have the option to do otherwise. I
think it's fantastic that she can just "decid(e) to focus only on the positivity of being black." I wish everyone could have that, but it's a little easier to get in that headspace when you've had access to the best private schools, resources, etc. and I just would have liked to see her unpack that a little more.
Like her comedy peer Phoebe Robinson, she seems to have a fearlessness when it comes to poking fun at herself and mining past mistakes/embarrassments for comedy and I respect that. Without that we couldn't have had Awkward Black Girl, after all. But Phoebe's stories have a core--a comedic core, an emotional core, sometimes she will even wallop you with a social justice message at the core. With this collection, I felt like this was often missing. If anything, I feel like she was almost purposely going out of her way to share something with absolutely no takeaway.
And then sometimes the message you leave with is not something I think she intended. This book was a surprising education for me in how much affluence she comes from. And.. good for her, I guess, but she doesn't seem to have any self awareness of how some of the things she's sharing comes off. Like normally someone's dad doesn't just fund $10,000 of filming equipment and multiple trips between the U. S. and Senegal (her father's home country) arent usually referred to as casually as say, a plane trip between Chicago and St. Louis. I was really hoping on getting more about developing ABG and there's just not much there. Now I'm thinking it's because things just fell into place.
The toughest chapter is probably "The Struggle." As much as I want to be on her side, and I kind of get what she's trying to say does she *really* wonder why some of her peers who "talk, think, or breathe" race do it? Yes, they *are* exhausted, but they, and many people they know don't have the option to do otherwise. I
think it's fantastic that she can just "decid(e) to focus only on the positivity of being black." I wish everyone could have that, but it's a little easier to get in that headspace when you've had access to the best private schools, resources, etc. and I just would have liked to see her unpack that a little more.
it had its moments and i liked learning about her early life but it was missing the level of humor she has in her visual works
Although I am aware of who Issa Rae is, I have not watched her show or web series which may have helped with getting a feel for her style and had me embrace the book more. The book is a series of essays of current events or reflecting back on her life. It is engaging, I found myself only about to read 2 to 3 essays at a time.
lighthearted
fast-paced
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
This book of anecdotes and essays had some amusing moments, great insights, and quotable lines. It also had some stereotypes regarding certain groups of people and phrases like “chinky eyes” that bothered me.
Overall, it was an okay book. The book recounts some of her experiences as being a self-proclaimed awkward black girl but the retelling of these episodes are only mildly funny at best, which is kind of a let down considering I'm a huge fan of her web series of the same name.
The chapter "Connecting with Other Blacks" was pretty funny, as some of the caricatures/stereotypes mentioned were spot on. Sadly, it went down hill from there. There were numerous mentions of childhood incidents and romantic encounters which seemed to be influenced by her status as an awkward black girl.
More to come soon...
The chapter "Connecting with Other Blacks" was pretty funny, as some of the caricatures/stereotypes mentioned were spot on. Sadly, it went down hill from there. There were numerous mentions of childhood incidents and romantic encounters which seemed to be influenced by her status as an awkward black girl.
More to come soon...
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.5 ⭐️
Listened to this on audiobook and loved that she read it, but overall this was just okay!
Listened to this on audiobook and loved that she read it, but overall this was just okay!
I have loved everything I’ve watched with Issa Rae in it, so when I saw she had a memoir, I wanted to see what it would be like! I found this to be entertaining & pretty witty! There were a lot of moments that made me laugh, and I just found most of her stories to be interesting and sometimes relatable! What I loved the most is how proud she is to be who she is! She’s awkward, black, and a woman and she owns every ounce of what that means! It did jump around a bit and it wasn’t necessarily hard to follow but could be disorienting at times! I also think she has a very different view of race due to her upbringing so some of her takes I just couldn’t agree with or relate to! But overall this was fun, lighthearted and still managed to talk about some rough moments in her life!