A review by wanderonwards
Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton

medium-paced

4.0

Thank you to Macmillan/Henry Holt & Company for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

This was my first time reading a biomythography/mythmoir, but I think it was definitely the right approach for this book. I really enjoyed this writing style and how Mouton weaves in, and builds on, mythology to create this experience. One quote in particular has continued to stick with me, and I hope it makes it unchanged in the final copy: 

 

“Mythmaking isn’t a lie. It is our moment to take the privilege of our own creativity in Black Mythology and use it to fill in the gaps in literature that colonization has tried to steal from us. It is us choosing to write the tales that our children pull strength from. It is hijacking history for the ignorance in its closets.” (Afterword, page 303 in the copy I received) 

 

I will definitely be picking up more biomythographies and mythmoires in the future. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC.