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aelunny's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
As a modern video essay lover, I feel like reading this was the equivalent of someone 30 years from now finding YouTube archive. Obviously not all of the points still hit, but I love bell hook's honesty in everything she writes and so so so many of the points she raised ring true today and are still very frequently discussed in contemporary circles
stevia333k's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
4.0
Overall i really liked this book. Helps out a lot with discussions of intersectionality & it reminded of the discourse i was in back when i was 2. That being said I'm aromantic so, some of it goes over my head.
Like some of the media discussions had questions that have since been resolved. For example by saying sex worker instead of prostitute we can more easily tell that Madonna was never independent.
Chapter 5 pissed me off though because not only are we not given the text she wrote that got her in trouble with her comrades, but we then hear her talk about needing to be open when it's like Stalin didn't go to Nazi Germany to give a speech because that invitation was unsafe & deadly.
Like some of the media discussions had questions that have since been resolved. For example by saying sex worker instead of prostitute we can more easily tell that Madonna was never independent.
Chapter 5 pissed me off though because not only are we not given the text she wrote that got her in trouble with her comrades, but we then hear her talk about needing to be open when it's like Stalin didn't go to Nazi Germany to give a speech because that invitation was unsafe & deadly.
kyrajade's review
4.0
If bell hooks has a million fans, I am one of them. If bell hooks has one fan, then that is me. If bell hooks has no fans, I am dead.
brice_mo's review
3.0
All bell hooks is good bell hooks, and there's a few essays in here that are really fascinating, such as her critiques of Spike Lee and her interview with Ice Cube, but many of the cultural artifacts or moments that hooks engages with are not terribly relevant for the modern reader.
That isn't to say that they are totally irrelevant, but many people—myself included—will probably lack the cultural literacy to appreciate the full weight, say, of the essay on Madonna. Regardless, hooks's voice is as strong as ever here, and it made me really wish I could see what her commentary on pop culture in the 2020s would look like.
That isn't to say that they are totally irrelevant, but many people—myself included—will probably lack the cultural literacy to appreciate the full weight, say, of the essay on Madonna. Regardless, hooks's voice is as strong as ever here, and it made me really wish I could see what her commentary on pop culture in the 2020s would look like.