Reviews

How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon

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alexiscrocker's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

This is my first Kiese Laymon book and it did not disappoint. I learned about racism. About women. About other books to read. About how to better raise children. About Black experience in America. The list does not end.

New fan of Laymon - this will not be my last. His essays were poignant, insightful, and honest.

At only 158 pages, there’s no reason not to read this book.

destinymoran's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Phew. I finished this book of essays about a month ago and it’s taken me some time to articulate the way his words have made me feel, so I got a little help. Though you may successfully devour every page in one sitting (and you’ll find it incredibly hard not to), it will take days/ weeks/ months to fully absorb their impact. When you read these essays, you are engaging in a conversation that takes place both on and off the page. This is a book I’ve found myself revisiting over and over; it’s led to much discussion and introspection with friends and family. These words made me take a long, hard look at the reality and terrifying weight of being in another persons shoes; they forced me to take a long, hard look at myself as a white woman in Mississippi. It is a heavy, heartfelt, poetic, joyful, unflinchingly honest look into the world of race, black families and experiences in the south and in America. His words have a bite and poeticism that honestly left me speechless. I sat with these words in silence for hours afterwards… still a month later I am stunned into stillness. A Mississippi born and raised author; he allows us into his heart, his family, his experiences on a more personal level than I’ve ever experienced while reading a novel. I was simultaneously overjoyed and heartbroken throughout the journey. I needed to read this. I needed to see and feel these words; and they will stick with me for the rest of my life. “He uses his voice for his people, for his home, for those of us that follow him, and our responses can echo back, as we all examine what is wrong with us, as we all examine how we slowly kill ourselves and those we love in America.” 10/10 recommend

lisawhelpley's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a book to buy, re-read, highlight and sit back and THINK after reading. Seriously. Read it. It was a coincidence that I picked this up last night from my "to read" stack and finished it on MLK day. Kiese Laymon is a new author for me, but I'll be reading everything he writes now.

lattelibrarian's review against another edition

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5.0

This was absolutely riveting, necessary, stunning, poignant. Laymon takes no shortcuts talking about his grandfather, the times guns have been pulled on him, police violence, community trauma. Every word just gets me--it's a book that I checked out from the library, and now want nothing more than to own just so I can mark it up, reread it, remind myself of my place in society and how I can listen and help.

Blending personal experience with general societal narratives, he dissects and understands, and reworks so much of what we think we already know and understand. And he does it in a way that's just...incredible. Powerful. Necessary.

Review cross-listed here!