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A review by now_booking
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
It feels almost cheeky to give this amazing collection of essays, interviews, conversations, speeches anything less than 5 stars- cheeky in the way that would you rate a story a beloved grandmother tells you about your ancestry and heritage 4 stars? Because essentially, that is what this book is- it is history and politics, economics and geography, we’re called to reflect on sexism and racism, homophobia and heterosexism and above all intersectionality and how all the intersections that breed inequality and injustice are as relevant now as they ever have been. If it’s not 5 stars for me, it’s because sometimes I craved more of the author than her boundaries delivered in this book. This was so excellent that perhaps in the diversity of its composition, I preferred some formats to others- I wanted more than what the scope of this one book promised- I wanted perhaps a book of poems, an autobiography, a book on feminist theory, another on neoliberalism and yet another on history- to know more of this author and her practice and her lived experience. My greed for this book to be more than a patchwork quilt (however gorgeous) of varied content cast me a little adrift at times when reading this.
Every single word in this collection is laden with wisdom- from reminders of the mundane (and even the mundane here is insightful), to the mind-blowingly progressive. My favourite parts were the bits where Audre Lorde speaks of her life and lends us her stories and personal lived experience to illustrate the concepts she’s putting forth. The opening story where she narrates her experiences as a Black lesbian woman in socialist Russia, to the tidbits she drops about learning from practically babyhood the ranking of a dark-skinned Black woman in society, and about what that would mean for her lived experience as an American and moreover a Black feminist and intersectional activist. When in one of her most famous pieces from this collection, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” she calls on us to acknowledge difference rather than fear it, to face intersectionality head on, to lean into the anger of injustice and the discomfort of speaking up and use it to drive change… chills. She’s everyone’s trusted Aunty in this book- the one that calls you out, tells you about yourself when necessary but also always has her arms open and inspires you.
I’m not much of a non-ficition reader typically but this collection was so rich with lessons and insights that are relevant to me as someone who is interested in inequality, but also as someone fearful of getting the fight wrong. This book is part instruction manual for understanding the genotype and phenotype of inequality and injustice in America (and to a lesser extent, globally), and part call you action for how all of us as a society can learn to see and acknowledge things and to do better.
Every single word in this collection is laden with wisdom- from reminders of the mundane (and even the mundane here is insightful), to the mind-blowingly progressive. My favourite parts were the bits where Audre Lorde speaks of her life and lends us her stories and personal lived experience to illustrate the concepts she’s putting forth. The opening story where she narrates her experiences as a Black lesbian woman in socialist Russia, to the tidbits she drops about learning from practically babyhood the ranking of a dark-skinned Black woman in society, and about what that would mean for her lived experience as an American and moreover a Black feminist and intersectional activist. When in one of her most famous pieces from this collection, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” she calls on us to acknowledge difference rather than fear it, to face intersectionality head on, to lean into the anger of injustice and the discomfort of speaking up and use it to drive change… chills. She’s everyone’s trusted Aunty in this book- the one that calls you out, tells you about yourself when necessary but also always has her arms open and inspires you.
I’m not much of a non-ficition reader typically but this collection was so rich with lessons and insights that are relevant to me as someone who is interested in inequality, but also as someone fearful of getting the fight wrong. This book is part instruction manual for understanding the genotype and phenotype of inequality and injustice in America (and to a lesser extent, globally), and part call you action for how all of us as a society can learn to see and acknowledge things and to do better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia