A review by dinasamimi
Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith

3.0

I want to love this. Smith knows what she's talking about. For me, it was a little too inside baseball -- the minor players in each chapter and their stories sometimes took away from the main show and I often got lost as Smith moved back and forth between story lines throughout the course of a chapter. There are a lot of threads to weave and I wish she was able to do this a little more expertly (I'm thinking about A Little Devil in America here). I was definitely interested in the subject matter and the intersection of personal memoir and criticism, just needed the writing to be a little tighter. Starting with Phillis Wheatley was really beautiful. Ending was great as well.