Scan barcode
maxinekelly's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Racism
Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Child death, Racism, and Grief
terahjay's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault
sam_fielder_137's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
1.5
Whiny, rambly, and annoying. It's a classic story: self-obsessed writer thinks their thoughts are profound enough that everyone needs to hear them only to produce nothing anyone hasn't heard before. The audacity of someone who's publishing a book to claim they're being silenced is frustrating and infuriating to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
nataliegray's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, and Sexual violence
de_es_em's review
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual violence
katsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
“Beauty is not good capital. I compounds the oppression of gender. It constrains those who identify as women against their will. It costs money and demands money. It colonizes. It hurts. It is painful. It can never be fully satisfied. It is not useful for human flourishing. Beauty is, like all capital, merely valuable.”
"Too much small talk is how a country is given to sociopaths who thrive on shallow chatter to distract their emotional sleight of hand."
“Black girlhood ends whenever a man says it ends.”
“We do not share much in the U.S. culture of individualism except our delusions about meritocracy. God help my people, but I can talk to hundreds of black folks who have been systematically separated from their money, citizenship, and personhood and hear at least eighty stories about how no one is to blame but themselves. That is not about black people being black but about people being American. That is what we do.”
I was really happy my book club decided to read this book. I think we could all learn a thing or two from Cottom. I found myself struggling with her writing every once in a while. I'd have to go back and reread sections because I couldn't comprehend certain pieces but overall, what she had to say about American society and her space in it was compelling. Something I noticed that kept coming back to me throughout each essay was how capitalism intersected with each topic. Our country sits so squarely on this ideal of capitalism and it pervades everything. It forces us to make split second decisions about the inherit worth and value of individuals around us and perpetuates so many inequalities. This is another one of those books that I tabbed all to hell and I definitely want to reference back to it every once in a while. I feel like I say that about a lot non-fiction that I read but this is one of those that I could stand to process through some more.
"Too much small talk is how a country is given to sociopaths who thrive on shallow chatter to distract their emotional sleight of hand."
“Black girlhood ends whenever a man says it ends.”
“We do not share much in the U.S. culture of individualism except our delusions about meritocracy. God help my people, but I can talk to hundreds of black folks who have been systematically separated from their money, citizenship, and personhood and hear at least eighty stories about how no one is to blame but themselves. That is not about black people being black but about people being American. That is what we do.”
I was really happy my book club decided to read this book. I think we could all learn a thing or two from Cottom. I found myself struggling with her writing every once in a while. I'd have to go back and reread sections because I couldn't comprehend certain pieces but overall, what she had to say about American society and her space in it was compelling. Something I noticed that kept coming back to me throughout each essay was how capitalism intersected with each topic. Our country sits so squarely on this ideal of capitalism and it pervades everything. It forces us to make split second decisions about the inherit worth and value of individuals around us and perpetuates so many inequalities. This is another one of those books that I tabbed all to hell and I definitely want to reference back to it every once in a while. I feel like I say that about a lot non-fiction that I read but this is one of those that I could stand to process through some more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
More...