jaclyncrupi 's review for:

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

4.0

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These essays are incredibly thought-provoking and occassionally discomforting. Castillo invites us to rethink our critical thinking of the books, art and history we are surrounded by. Her voice and tone is intellectual but also funny. In response to the American Dirt saga she writes, ‘There is only so much space I can make for this controversy, both in these pages and in my life; controversies like this go beyond racial microaggressions—they’ve become predictable and occasionally lucrative trauma engines, and continually asking writers of color to produce a comment from the hot-take-jukebox on the latest fuckup perpetrated by a dementedly racist and tone-deaf publishing industry is asking those writers to wipe a shit they did not take.’ I still think about her debut novel America is Not The Heart all the time.