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4.54 AVERAGE
4.54 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
slow-paced
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Written as a letter to his teenage son, Coates describes his relationship to his own Blackness throughout his life.
Disclaimer: I am white, reviewing a book about Blackness by a Black author. I highly encourage you to also read reviews by Black reviewers!
I listened to the audiobook of this, which is narrated by the author, and I highly recommend that as the method to read this book. Because this book is so short, I slowed down the audio to lower than my usual to make sure I sat with Coates' words. I thought this book was so insightful and well put together. We see how Coates grows up Black, and how the different eras of his life have changed how he sees himself and his Blackness. How he, at various points in his life, had to repeatedly come to the realization of how intent American tradition is on destroying the Black body. I think that the memoir-like style works for this book so well because rather than Coates coming out to the reader directly with his philosophy, he travels through the path he took to get there, from the streets of Baltimore to the halls of Howard to his apartment in NY. Coates isn't trying to encapsulate everything about everyone's experience to be a manifesto for others, he's trying to explain his struggles to his son who is going through similar ones, ones that every Black person in America has to go through in one way or another when one's nation is so heavily predicated on hatred for one's people. Not only did I think the content of this book was great, but its organization and narrative style also lend themselves to highlighting its content. There were several times I rewound the audiobook just to hear the author say the same sentence again.
Overall, this letter from father to son about the life of a Black American will stay with readers through its simplicity and insight.
Disclaimer: I am white, reviewing a book about Blackness by a Black author. I highly encourage you to also read reviews by Black reviewers!
I listened to the audiobook of this, which is narrated by the author, and I highly recommend that as the method to read this book. Because this book is so short, I slowed down the audio to lower than my usual to make sure I sat with Coates' words. I thought this book was so insightful and well put together. We see how Coates grows up Black, and how the different eras of his life have changed how he sees himself and his Blackness. How he, at various points in his life, had to repeatedly come to the realization of how intent American tradition is on destroying the Black body. I think that the memoir-like style works for this book so well because rather than Coates coming out to the reader directly with his philosophy, he travels through the path he took to get there, from the streets of Baltimore to the halls of Howard to his apartment in NY. Coates isn't trying to encapsulate everything about everyone's experience to be a manifesto for others, he's trying to explain his struggles to his son who is going through similar ones, ones that every Black person in America has to go through in one way or another when one's nation is so heavily predicated on hatred for one's people. Not only did I think the content of this book was great, but its organization and narrative style also lend themselves to highlighting its content. There were several times I rewound the audiobook just to hear the author say the same sentence again.
Overall, this letter from father to son about the life of a Black American will stay with readers through its simplicity and insight.
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I listened to the audiobook of this, which Coates narrates himself. It was such a powerful book, one that everyone should read!