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bashsbooks's review against another edition
4.75
So the context easily gets a 5/5, full stars from me. Read the essays, read them again, read Abdurraqib's other work. Keen-eyed observers will notice, though, that I only gave this 4.75 stars. Why?
Well, I listened to the audiobook production of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, and it is a super interesting listen... but it's not the same text as the text versions. Firstly, Abdurraqib adds in a lot of author's notes, editoralizing in a way that I can sympathize with because he came back to this text to read it for the audiobook a few years after publishing. Secondly, one essay is not conveyable verbally - it's an erasure essay, and Abdurraqib notes that he couldn't figure out a way to speak it without compromising the piece. I grabbed a physical copy of the book from my library to read that essay ("August 9, 2014"), and I agree with his assessment that it wouldn't be an easy one to read aloud.
The fact that the audio and written version of the book are different isn't a bad thing per se, but it is a complicated one. And so I don't consider my rating a mark against it as much of a signal/acknowledgment that I read a different version of the text than people with physical or digital copies.
All that said - my favorite essays from this collection were "Under Half-Lit Fluorescents: The Wonder Years And The Great Suburban Narrative," "Death Becomes You: My Chemical Romance And Ten Years Of The Black Parade," "Nina Simone Was Very Black," "Serena Williams And The Policing Of Imagined Arrogance," and "The White Rapper Joke."
Graphic: Racial slurs, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Death, Police brutality, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Hate crime, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Cursing, and Suicide
Minor: Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Murder, Drug abuse, and Drug use
blackberryjambaby's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Islamophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Addiction, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Terminal illness, War, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Drug use, Child death, and Alcoholism
Minor: Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Pedophilia
caseythereader's review against another edition
5.0
- It does help that I was big into the 2000s emo scene, which many of the early essays in this book center on. No, YOU cried about Fall Out Boy while reading this book!
- It’s not just about the music, though, it never is with his writing. Music is life, and it illuminates what it’s like live in Abdurraqib’s body in this world.
Graphic: Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Racism, Murder, Cursing, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Slavery, and Suicide
cannnned's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Cursing, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use