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A review by bookaquarius
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Despite being a shorter book for me, I went on quite a journey with this one. I recently finished A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib and it was a great non-fiction read. Abdurraqib traverses time, context, and location through his reflections on various aspects of Black American performance and draws connections with his own experiences. Whether it be the performance of grief, performance of anger, performance on stage, performance at work, or performance in a boxing ring, the book went far wider than I’d anticipated when going in. Abdurraqib grapples with his own life experiences (with grief, anger, etc) in parallel to the famous (or famously overlooked and unappreciated) Black performers he reflects on. And most importantly, I think Abdurraqib does a wonderful job at adding context and sometimes obscure facts about the famous Black performers he discusses. He interprets their work and their public statements in a way that so often gets missed by the comfort-of-the-American-public approved version of history.
There were a couple sections of this book that hit these raw, still tender places inside me. I actually teared up at those moments! It was really nice to feel so moved by someone who sees something startlingly similar to the way you do but can manage to get it out and onto paper.
I also appreciated that there were moments where I could connect to what Abdurraqib was saying about racism/white complicity in day to day interactions or in the workplace but it never felt as if he was trying to give instructions or make it a scholarly exercise. Sometimes it is what it is and what it is sucks bad and is just painful. I think whether reflecting on performers or his own experiences the general theme of acknowledgement was very powerful.
“I wonder about the benefits and failures of this: how far the country has gotten laying down the framework for societal dos and don’ts while not confronting
There were a couple sections of this book that hit these raw, still tender places inside me. I actually teared up at those moments! It was really nice to feel so moved by someone who sees something startlingly similar to the way you do but can manage to get it out and onto paper.
I also appreciated that there were moments where I could connect to what Abdurraqib was saying about racism/white complicity in day to day interactions or in the workplace but it never felt as if he was trying to give instructions or make it a scholarly exercise. Sometimes it is what it is and what it is sucks bad and is just painful. I think whether reflecting on performers or his own experiences the general theme of acknowledgement was very powerful.
“I wonder about the benefits and failures of this: how far the country has gotten laying down the framework for societal dos and don’ts while not confronting