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A review by myriadreads
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
5.0
I read this whole collection with a tight grip on the book.
Rankine begins by setting a scene: You're too tired for any of your devices, lying down, but your mind is not at rest. A memory could be triggered by a smell, leading to another association. Suddenly you're thinking about all of those moments over the years, mind flowing from one to the next.
Rankine's prose poems are written in second person, and that "you" voice brings the reader right into various situations from awkward to outrageous, where the narrator's blackness is thrown into sharp relief against a white background. It's shocking, cringe-worthy, and in many cases familiar. You've seen it, heard it, been there before. You remember the joke that a white friend cracked with a sideways look to see how you would react.
An essay on the experience of tennis star Serena Williams, and her experience in a very white sport, widened my eyes with disbelief. I recognized the name, of course, because both sisters are stars. I don't follow tennis closely enough that I was familiar with the outrageous calls, disrespectful commentators, and outright mockery that Serena has faced.
As a writer, I saw new ways here to approach personal experiences on the page. It hurt to read this. But it's important, and it's part of a larger discussion that needs to be happening between as many citizens as possible.
Rankine begins by setting a scene: You're too tired for any of your devices, lying down, but your mind is not at rest. A memory could be triggered by a smell, leading to another association. Suddenly you're thinking about all of those moments over the years, mind flowing from one to the next.
Rankine's prose poems are written in second person, and that "you" voice brings the reader right into various situations from awkward to outrageous, where the narrator's blackness is thrown into sharp relief against a white background. It's shocking, cringe-worthy, and in many cases familiar. You've seen it, heard it, been there before. You remember the joke that a white friend cracked with a sideways look to see how you would react.
An essay on the experience of tennis star Serena Williams, and her experience in a very white sport, widened my eyes with disbelief. I recognized the name, of course, because both sisters are stars. I don't follow tennis closely enough that I was familiar with the outrageous calls, disrespectful commentators, and outright mockery that Serena has faced.
As a writer, I saw new ways here to approach personal experiences on the page. It hurt to read this. But it's important, and it's part of a larger discussion that needs to be happening between as many citizens as possible.