A review by 1348kamar
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.75

This book is the most challenging read. Period. She faces every kind of harassment and abuse you can imagine for being a black woman trying to attend school. She was SA’d, spat on, st*bbed, burnt, insulted, threatened etc. I was heartbroken at every chapter. But having said that, this book is so important. It tells you so much about what these students faced and how goddamn brave they had to be to endure it all- how literally no one had their backs. It’s so thought provoking and insightful that I won’t forget it. I learned more from this than I did in school and I’m being so genuine. This read made me realize how many misconceptions I held about the Little Rock 9 situation. If you have the will to pick this up you’ll like it. 
I think my only complaint (which is so small) is the pacing of the book. I naively went in thinking it would just detail her life at school, but it covers so much more than that. She talks about her friendships, school work, relationships, family, etc. Which is awesome. But weird when it goes from her talking about getting her house shot up, then directly to her new crush yk? She never gives us a moment to process anything, but I think that’s intentional. 
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