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A review by mathman329
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
5.0
2024 Book Review - Book No. 12: “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us” written by Hanif Abdurraqib
Date started: 3/1/24
Date finished: 3/13/24
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (would recommend reading if you like poetry, music, and contemporary social issues)
Spoiler free review: I’ve long been a fan of Philly punk/alternative outfit The Wonder Years. Their lead singer, Dan, often posts about Hanif Abdurraqib and his works on social media, and I’ve always thought that I should check him out. I was thrilled when this was chosen as our March book for Book Club. And while my expectations were high, this was even better than I hoped.
Throughout this collection of essays before and up to 2017, I found myself lost in Abdurraqib’s prose. Essays about late 90’s/early 00’s emo/punk/alternative bands brought waves of nostalgia crashing onto me. His insight into scene bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and The Wonder Years and the way he connected with them gave each band another dimension for me, one that I hadn’t before considered.
Other essays focus on race and culture, including the challenges of being an African American and Muslim in a country where, unfortunately, it’s not always easy to be either. While I don’t personally face the same challenges and dangers Abdurraqib writes about in these essays, I do empathize and wish our country was one where no one had to face such hardships. That a man as talented as Abdurraqib is has endured profiling, both racial and religious, at many points of his life is sickening. That anyone should have to deal with the questions, the looks, the stereotyping that Abdurraqib writes about is heartbreaking, but it’s his honest and insightful prose that grabs you and cries out for help not for himself, but for all marginalized populations.
With each new essay, I found myself wondering how we can change our country in a way that we still acknowledge our horrible past and historical differences, and yet forge a better future where no one has to live in fear of these challenges. I know this sounds ideal and naive. Change most certainly won’t be easy, as “They Can’t Kill Us…” desperately and maddeningly seems to confirm. But if there’s any way to begin a change, I would say reading this book in an attempt to better understand those different from us, and encouraging others to do the same, is at least a starting point.
Date started: 3/1/24
Date finished: 3/13/24
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (would recommend reading if you like poetry, music, and contemporary social issues)
Spoiler free review: I’ve long been a fan of Philly punk/alternative outfit The Wonder Years. Their lead singer, Dan, often posts about Hanif Abdurraqib and his works on social media, and I’ve always thought that I should check him out. I was thrilled when this was chosen as our March book for Book Club. And while my expectations were high, this was even better than I hoped.
Throughout this collection of essays before and up to 2017, I found myself lost in Abdurraqib’s prose. Essays about late 90’s/early 00’s emo/punk/alternative bands brought waves of nostalgia crashing onto me. His insight into scene bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and The Wonder Years and the way he connected with them gave each band another dimension for me, one that I hadn’t before considered.
Other essays focus on race and culture, including the challenges of being an African American and Muslim in a country where, unfortunately, it’s not always easy to be either. While I don’t personally face the same challenges and dangers Abdurraqib writes about in these essays, I do empathize and wish our country was one where no one had to face such hardships. That a man as talented as Abdurraqib is has endured profiling, both racial and religious, at many points of his life is sickening. That anyone should have to deal with the questions, the looks, the stereotyping that Abdurraqib writes about is heartbreaking, but it’s his honest and insightful prose that grabs you and cries out for help not for himself, but for all marginalized populations.
With each new essay, I found myself wondering how we can change our country in a way that we still acknowledge our horrible past and historical differences, and yet forge a better future where no one has to live in fear of these challenges. I know this sounds ideal and naive. Change most certainly won’t be easy, as “They Can’t Kill Us…” desperately and maddeningly seems to confirm. But if there’s any way to begin a change, I would say reading this book in an attempt to better understand those different from us, and encouraging others to do the same, is at least a starting point.