Reviews

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

heather3879's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

rosa_inverno's review against another edition

4.25

I think how you feel about this book depends on what you come into it expecting. I didn't have a lot of specific expectations so finding a meditation/memoir/travelogue combo was something I found fascinating. I was also very drawn in by the somewhat stream of consciousnes  writing style that, to me, showed the interconnected nature of theme and place. 

Sometimes I felt the narrative needed a little space to breath - a lot of complex ideas were being presented at once. But generally this was incredible. 

rainbowbookworm's review against another edition

3.0

Until I reached the section about Cuba, I was enjoying this book and thinking I was learning a lot about history and culture from it. Then I read something that was factually inaccurate and it made me question the veracity of the other things I read. Nevertheless, it was a well-written, entertaining book which is why I still gave it a three-star rating.

saydenie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

hollydyer328's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

This took me a while to get into, but once I got the hang of the general structure, I started enjoying it. There's definitely a lot about the South that I didn't know, especially for places we wouldn't consider the south like Washington, D.C. This was a well-researched and well-written exploration of the history of the South and what it tells about racism in the U.S. The scope was very large and there were a lot of details that I didn't get. I also listened on audio and this book is probably better in print. 

ladyleigh's review against another edition

Didn’t like the writing style/voice/tone

madeleinegeorge's review against another edition

5.0

What a brilliant, moving catalogue of wonder. Perry is exacting, thorough, and generous in her roaming, expansive survey the South. More complete, resplendently detailed, grief-ridden, and anthropologically inspired than any other geographic or cultural autopsy I've read, especially of this-- our home-- whose legacy is more historically rich, culturally complicated, and politically important than perhaps any other. The sensorium of Perry's prose never fails to amaze and affect in turn; the writing sings with the song of live oak, of red clay, of summer heat and hushpuppies. The words are as southern as their writer, who is as southern as her soil. An enriching, demanding, if sometimes exhausting, text-- and and essential summer read for anyone below the Mason Dixon or anyone who loves its music, its food, its writers, or any of its children.

daschneider's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

hulahoopes's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

jessielavoieak's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0