Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

14 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Thought provoking and eye opening collection of essays/stories! I liked some chapters more than others, the ones I didn’t like mostly because they were difficult to understand at times language-wise and with concepts (such as the use of erotic chapter). There were times where no matter how often I reread the sentences, I couldn’t wrap my head around what was being said.

Most of the essays are from the 80s it seems but they’re still so relevant to today! I think this should be required reading in schools, especially in the US. I learned so much that I did not learn in school about US history and the government’s actions abroad. I marked a lot of pages and passages! I look forward to reading more from Lorde.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: War and Colonisation

Minor: Cancer

introverted_reads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Racial slurs, and Cancer

Moderate: Police brutality, Classism, Infertility, Colonisation, Hate crime, and Lesbophobia

joensign's review

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Lesbophobia, Racism, Homophobia, Violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Cancer

streberkatze's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I'm so glad I finally got around to reading this essay collection. The essays are profoundly insightful and have lost nothing of their relevance since the time of their writing in the 1970s and 1980s. Especially "Learning from the 60s" really struck a chord with me. Audre Lorde truly is one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, and Racism

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Like any kind of collection, there are always some parts that you like better than other ones but, overall, there is an awful lot to appreciate here and many interesting, challenging and complex reflections to ponder over.

There were a couple of chapters that I didn't much care about and, in places, were also a bit of a struggle to get through (for example "Notes from a Trip to Russia"; "An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich", which was way too long, too much focused on their personal relationship, and also I do not like Adrienne Rich).

I have to admit that some sections were a bit difficult to understand, but that has more to do with me lacking in similar personal experiences and knowledge, than to any fault of the author. 

A lot of what Audre Lorde reflected on and wrote about back then still resonates deeply today. I think it will be worth it to read more from the author and then revisit these essays.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Child death, Homophobia, War, Cancer, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Rape, Medical trauma, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Torture

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Those looking to meet Audre Lorde unabashedly might stop here for a while and absorb her very intimate expressions of anger and optimism, insight and intersectionality--all, in brief, in search of the space for us to love freely.

These essays and speeches, mostly from 1978-1983, make frequent reference to events of the time and some of her ideas overlap across multiple titles, but none of this makes the reading less valuable. It may be that some readers are less interested in her travelogues, or her academic papers, or her lengthy interviews--but they are here all in a single collection, rightly demonstrating the complexity and range of Lorde's life and thought.

What you will not find here are much of her poetry (though it is frequently referenced; try From a Land Where Other People Live) or her extended reflections on her life (for this turn to her powerful mythobiography Zami). 

What is here is amazingly prescient about where our broader discourse on race, feminism, queerness, and intersectionality would all take us, 40 years later. She is not so nearly affrontive or controversial in her demands today than in her time, and that is a good thing. Where I was illuminated, however--and appreciably so--is her optimism, her clear vision of a path forward. While the problems and questions she raises are now more commonly heard, we have yet to really embrace the strategies and solutions she sometimes calls for. Still more to learn, us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexism, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

Lorde does not shy from sharing incidence of racial and misogynistic violence when they occur

nila's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Ableism, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Mass/school shootings

robinks's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

What a powerful introduction to Audre Lorde’s words. I read so many lines over and over to let them sink in. There were such meaningful, clear anecdotes and heavy research to support Lorde’s points. This is definitely a collection I will come back to time and time again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Classism, Lesbophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Police brutality, Bullying, Rape, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Cancer, and Genocide

linguaphile412's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Colonisation, Cancer, Sexual violence, and Classism

random19379's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Homophobia, and War