Reviews - Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals

381 reviews for:

Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

4.48 AVERAGE

phdyke's review

5.0

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

howdyhoward's review against another edition

4.0

The author suggests reading one meditation per day, and I definitely recommend that approach. (Although I didn't follow this advice, I read this slower than I originally intended to and that enhanced the experience a lot.) Each meditation is a lyrical essay focusing on one tenet of being, taking inspiration and knowledge from various marine mammals in each chapter. There isn't necessarily practical advice in this book, but more spiritual advice focusing on love (yourself, your community, your environment, etc). It is lyrically written and invites you to hold space for returning to what is important by escaping the grind of the capitalist driven world, to consider what else we can become.

I can see this being compared to How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, which I didn't enjoy as much. They are structurally very different but both have a focus on how ocean dwelling creatures can help us (humans) understand more about ourselves. If you like one, you may also enjoy the other. Or if you're like me and you didn't enjoy one, the other might suit your tastes more.