A review by lmshearer
Nina Simone's Gum by Warren Ellis

challenging reflective fast-paced

2.0

I found this book incredibly frustrating and its author a bit conceited and thoughtless in his storytelling. The main focus of this book - a piece of gum stolen away after one of Dr. Simone's last performances - would be an excellent jumping-off point to discuss ideas of artistic ephemera, what belongs to a 'celebrity' and what's fair game for the public, et al. Unfortunately, the author explores none of these ideas, and basically chronicles the piece of gum from theft to art exhibit. The book centers the author instead of its subject; in fact, we only get a Wikipedia-style overview of Dr. Simone's life. Aside from one reference to Lisa, her daughter, and a conversation they had about the gum, no one in the family seemed to be aware/involved in this process, which felt both colonial and misogynistic. The book unsettled me in all the wrong ways. Instead of this, I highly recommend the Netflix documentary, "What Happened, Ms. Simone?" for a thorough and honest look at Nina Simone's life and legacy.