A review by annreadsabook
The Talk by Darrin Bell

2.5

This book felt very...basic? 

I get the author’s desire to examine his own experiences as a biracial Black man and the complexities that come with it. But I think a lot of this book reads very repetitive and surface level…realizing cops racially profile, sometimes biracial kids aren’t accepted into either community, etc. As a Black person reading this, it felt very much written for while folks.

And a couple things bothered me:
  1. The failure to acknowledge the privileges that did undoubtedly come with having a white parent/primary caregiver, as well as being lighter skinned; and 
  2. There's a very brief mention of Bell's creation of a caricature of turban-wearing "terrorists" after 9/11 that were extremely racist and harmful...and he glosses over this in only a couple of panels. This was extremely jarring and felt almost as though Bell included the couple of panels out of a feeling of obligation, not necessarily out of a true desire to reckon with his own prejudices.

For a book that's singularly devoted to talking about race in America, it felt quite surface-level and limited. Each vignette left me feeling dissatisfied; there was much more in each scene that needed to be unpacked.

This book felt more invested in considering at far range the harms the author experienced while not stopping to really consider his own role in harming others or his own privileges. 

Wanted to love this, just missed the mark for me. 

Thank you to Henry Holt for the gifted copy.
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