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prettyboypercy's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
uriah's review against another edition
4.75
So you must wake up every morning knowing that no promise is unbreakable, least of all the promise of waking up at all. This is not despair. These are the preferences of the universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality
sellnow_hannah's review against another edition
5.0
A truly beautiful, moving, and poignant memoir. This is written as a letter to the author’s son about life in a black body in the world of the Dreamers. I read this at the same time as I was listening to The New Jim Crow and this was a great combination. Between the World and Me puts a personal face on some of the themes explored in the more academic New Jim Crow.
Coates’ writing is incredible - almost poetic at many points. I was in awe of his skill and the beauty of his words (and now I want to read his articles for The Atlantic).
As a white, educated woman this book - more than any other I’ve read - made me look closely at my own privilege. While I can never fully understand the experience of living in a black body, this gave a raw, personal, emotional insight into the lives of people Coates describes as living in another galaxy than myself.
I agree with the quote on the jacket, this absolutely should be required reading. This is a book to come back to again and again.
(I don’t rate memoirs below a 4 star because I think it takes a lot of courage to be this vulnerable and share your life story. So for me 4-4.25 is good, 4.5-4.75 is great, 5.0 is fantastic.)
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Slavery, Murder, and Police brutality
chronicacademia's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Classism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Grief, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Misogyny
deidrelj's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, and Racial slurs
estanza's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Death
_toristorytime's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Violence
aqtbenz's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Racism, and Racial slurs
audc's review
3.75
It’s informative of Coates’ experience and life as a black man in America which is packed with a lot of fear that then turns into anger.
While I agree with the sentiment of Dreamers in America and a majority being white or wanting to be white (ie. having power and authority to inflict destruction), I do not agree with how inflated, fatalist, galactic, racism is portrayed. While it has become cultural and institutionalized -integrated- I do not agree with Coates’ fatalistic view. He ends with the struggle and more of a call for ‘fight for yourself’ instead of strive as a collective.
For this, this book transmits fear and morphs it into anger. As he doesn’t spend nearly as much time on the solution as describing the problem. I can understand where and how he got to his conclusion, but there is a danger in generalising.
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Physical abuse, and Violence