Reviews with content warning for Suicide - They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

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They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

28 reviews

jasbeingjas's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

This was an incredible collection of essays. I think personally I could not even fully appreciate some of the essays because I’m not musically inclined. I haven’t done an audiobook in a long time but this one has made me open to more. I didn’t expect how choked up I would feel at the end when I got to the acknowledgments. It crept up on me just what a beautiful exploration of a wide range of emotions these essays are.

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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

Okay, I absolutely LOVE Hanif Abdurraqib, and I love They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us. I listened to the essay collection slowly, pausing to listen to all the different artists and albums and songs he touches on (Abdurraqib has many a wonderful Spotify playlist to help with this endeavor, including one called They Can't Kill Us. that is a companion to the collection.)

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."

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

There is so much contained is such a short book. I really enjoyed the author's reflections and interjections about the contents of the essays in the audiobook.

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

I find it hard to rate a book of essays - many of these essays made me feel so much. The ones to which I couldn't relate as much felt a little more like a drag to get through. Usually I love a book read by its author, but prose read by a poet can actually be hit and miss (for me personally I guess).

Some of the essays hit deep and others seemed, idk, a little unfinished? But still beautiful.

I loved the concept - it was almost like memoir plus social/political commentary through the lens of music criticism. All things I love, especially when early pop punk is involved. I can't wait to read Abdurraqib's poetry.

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erinmcav's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

4.75

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bookbrig's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

I first discovered Hanif Abdurraqib via this video of him reading the piece Defiance, Ohio is the Name of a Band (on YouTube here: youtube.com/watch?v=2VJJJOdOfEE), and it was so good I wanted to read more of his stuff. Then I saw that he recorded the narration for the audio version of this book, so I gave it a try. It's SO good. Not just the writing or the narration, but both together and the asides added to the original text and also the forward and afterward by Ewing and Reynolds. There's so much going on in these essays, so even if you're like me and don't know all the musical artists that come up it's still going to draw you in and keep you listening. This is one I'm planning to buy in both audio and physical, for the different qualities each version bring to the work.

Some are joyful and some are heart-wrenching and all of them are reflective and interesting and it makes for an excellent collection. Might be a good crossover read for your teens into music too. Highly recommend!

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savvylit's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Recently I posted a stack of books that made me feel glad to be alive. I had just finished They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us and already knew that it would effortlessly fit in that stack alongside Abdurraqib's other collection A Little Devil in America. Abdurraqib writes with an unmatched clarity and beauty about what it means to be human. Running through it all is the personal; Abdurraqib's unique perspective as a poet, as a music critic, as a Black man, as someone who grew up Muslim. Ultimately, though, these essays seem to speak to universal truths. The high highs, the low lows, and the art - especially the music - that carries us and keeps us connected. That's what living is about.

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