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A review by revellee
See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valarie Kaur
5.0
I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book. I admit to thinking the author too cheesy sounding right off the bat. I assumed this book would be like a lot of other memoir/inspirational books that are mostly just self-serving and narcissistic drivel. I was very wrong.
This book moved me more than any other book has in ... maybe ever? It's beautiful, tragic, poignant, hopeful, relatable, heartbreaking, joyful, and inspirational.
I highly recommend this book to everyone, but especially to anyone else who's grown numb and depressed and detached due to *gestures at everything*
This is my favorite passage:
"We were dancing on election night. I felt energy in my body. I felt joy... Joy returns us to everything that is good and beautiful and worth fighting for. In joy, we see even darkness with new eyes. I was not alone. I was one in millions. I was part of a movement. One in a constellation. I had to shine my light in my specific slice of sky. I could do that.
I did not know then all the crises yet to come, the rise of white nationalists who held this presidency as their great awakening, mass detentions and deportations, Muslim bans, zero tolerance policies separating migrant children from their parents, attacks on the rights of queer and trans people, assaults on women, and women's rights, and new mass shootings and hate violence against Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, black people, Latinx people, indigenous people, and immigrants.
All I knew was that the future was dark. And that as it got darker and more violent people would get tired, go numb, and retreat into whatever privilege they might have. I wanted to help people stay in the fire. I wanted to help myself stay in the fire. I concluded that revolutionary love was the call of our times and started building the tools to practice it."
This book moved me more than any other book has in ... maybe ever? It's beautiful, tragic, poignant, hopeful, relatable, heartbreaking, joyful, and inspirational.
I highly recommend this book to everyone, but especially to anyone else who's grown numb and depressed and detached due to *gestures at everything*
This is my favorite passage:
"We were dancing on election night. I felt energy in my body. I felt joy... Joy returns us to everything that is good and beautiful and worth fighting for. In joy, we see even darkness with new eyes. I was not alone. I was one in millions. I was part of a movement. One in a constellation. I had to shine my light in my specific slice of sky. I could do that.
I did not know then all the crises yet to come, the rise of white nationalists who held this presidency as their great awakening, mass detentions and deportations, Muslim bans, zero tolerance policies separating migrant children from their parents, attacks on the rights of queer and trans people, assaults on women, and women's rights, and new mass shootings and hate violence against Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, black people, Latinx people, indigenous people, and immigrants.
All I knew was that the future was dark. And that as it got darker and more violent people would get tired, go numb, and retreat into whatever privilege they might have. I wanted to help people stay in the fire. I wanted to help myself stay in the fire. I concluded that revolutionary love was the call of our times and started building the tools to practice it."