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vdege's reviews
21 reviews
Another Country by James Baldwin
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sprawling, almost unbearable, incredibly emotional in the style only Baldwin could craft
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint l'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.0
The Dawn of Everything by David Wengrow, David Graeber
5.0
absolutely fucking monumental and brilliant in nearly every way. so so so many thoughts on this book but i finished it at 4am and i’m way too tired to type them all out. all i have to say is i will miss david graeber eternally, and i hope he is resting well. gone far too soon.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm
4.0
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a relatively quick but enjoyable manifesto. It comprehensively addresses the objections people might have to eco-sabotage or other forms of destructive climate action. It began kind of dry, but as the book progressed and the ideas started to play off of one another, Malm composes a provocative push against the leading currents of the climate movement.
Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis
4.0
While reading the first half of this book, I can't say I was really gripped by Davis' writing. For a while it felt dry; the information she was presenting was certainly valuable, but far from striking.
The book began to pick up speed as it went on, and I'm glad I read all the way to the end. I especially enjoyed the mini-biographies of important women within the American socialist movement, and the book seemed to be thoroughly researched without many anecdotal claims made.
What really caught me off guard was the brutality Davis depicted during her discussion of forced sterilization within the chapter about reproductive rights. The fact that our government would resort to near-eugenic population control measures up until even the 1970s is not only appalling but horrifying. America is thought up as a haven for individualist freedom, yet only 50 years ago (a period which would be considered a blip within global history) we were forcibly sterilizing our women, a testament to how the "American Dream" only ever existed for bourgeois white men, who sit at the top of Davis' three-pronged intersectionality tree. Essential reading.
The book began to pick up speed as it went on, and I'm glad I read all the way to the end. I especially enjoyed the mini-biographies of important women within the American socialist movement, and the book seemed to be thoroughly researched without many anecdotal claims made.
What really caught me off guard was the brutality Davis depicted during her discussion of forced sterilization within the chapter about reproductive rights. The fact that our government would resort to near-eugenic population control measures up until even the 1970s is not only appalling but horrifying. America is thought up as a haven for individualist freedom, yet only 50 years ago (a period which would be considered a blip within global history) we were forcibly sterilizing our women, a testament to how the "American Dream" only ever existed for bourgeois white men, who sit at the top of Davis' three-pronged intersectionality tree. Essential reading.
The Hive by Camilo José Cela
5.0
Expansive, gritty, poetic, philosophical, experimental, historical, great!
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4.0
Pretty great all the way through, but the discussion Holden has with Mr. Antolini was particularly impactful for me. I struggle with intense bouts of demotivation & Antolini’s speech definitely resonated with me.