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A review by maisierosereads
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor
medium-paced
4.0
Broken Places & Outdoor Spaces is an interesting brief look at the author's experiences as a disabled Black girl & woman in the USA, and her route into creative writing. While I haven't had the opportunity to read any of Nnedi Okorafor's fictional writing yet, several of her books are on my TBR and I feel that I will be able to appreciate her writing more knowing the context covered by this book.
It is worth noting that some of the language used (e.g. wheelchair-bound) is not generally used by the disabled community today, and an emphasis on the medical model of disability over the (generally preferred) social model. I'm not sure whether these writing choices come from the fact that Okorafor started writing this book in the 90s, Okorafor's own perceptions of her experiences, or something else entirely. I would always recommend reading perspectives from a range of disabled people (there is no such thing as "the universal disabled experience" after all!) but I would definitely recommend that if this is your first time reading a memoir about disability.
Content warnings: medical content, medical trauma, ableism, anti-Black racism, anti-Black racist slurs, hallucinations (from prescribed opioid medications)
It is worth noting that some of the language used (e.g. wheelchair-bound) is not generally used by the disabled community today, and an emphasis on the medical model of disability over the (generally preferred) social model. I'm not sure whether these writing choices come from the fact that Okorafor started writing this book in the 90s, Okorafor's own perceptions of her experiences, or something else entirely. I would always recommend reading perspectives from a range of disabled people (there is no such thing as "the universal disabled experience" after all!) but I would definitely recommend that if this is your first time reading a memoir about disability.
Content warnings: medical content, medical trauma, ableism, anti-Black racism, anti-Black racist slurs, hallucinations (from prescribed opioid medications)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma