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18ck 's review for:
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is, I think, the only exception to the rule that if a person says "ax" instead of "ask" they're not going to say anything worth listening to. I listened to this as an audiobook and spent the time axing, sorry asking, myself how an obviously educated guy could talk like a six year old like this.
Anyway, the book itself is a brief, thoughtful account of the vexed question of race in America and some of the ways of approaching it to make sense of it. He's developed his own, very spare approach, without any frills or myth-making, emphasising personal autonomy in the face of society, with references to his body being taken or broken, ie, enslaved, imprisoned, injured through the exercise of power.
Written in the form of a letter to his son, it's pretty raw, allowing the reader to consider how the next generation has to deal with that historical legacy, or to imagine if they had to say this to their own son. And yet I couldn't help finding that aspect of it slightly clichéd and fake. Personal preference, I suppose.
All in all, its an important book, written by someone who has obviously grappled with some important issues and turned that grappling into real insight. It's not a manifesto or anything, and doesn't provide any easy answers, but sometimes framing the question well is enough for a book to accomplish.
Anyway, the book itself is a brief, thoughtful account of the vexed question of race in America and some of the ways of approaching it to make sense of it. He's developed his own, very spare approach, without any frills or myth-making, emphasising personal autonomy in the face of society, with references to his body being taken or broken, ie, enslaved, imprisoned, injured through the exercise of power.
Written in the form of a letter to his son, it's pretty raw, allowing the reader to consider how the next generation has to deal with that historical legacy, or to imagine if they had to say this to their own son. And yet I couldn't help finding that aspect of it slightly clichéd and fake. Personal preference, I suppose.
All in all, its an important book, written by someone who has obviously grappled with some important issues and turned that grappling into real insight. It's not a manifesto or anything, and doesn't provide any easy answers, but sometimes framing the question well is enough for a book to accomplish.