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vrkinase0411's reviews
961 reviews
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Bible and the Transgender Experience: How Scripture Supports Gender Variance by Linda Herzer
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters by Tricia Rose
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
The Balance of Fates by Raquel Raelynn
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Off the Menu by Alaina Erdell
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.25
Internment by Samira Ahmed
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.75
Black Leftist Lesbian Reads here: If I could burn this book I absolutely would, but I don't have it in me. Here's the thing, if your political acumen consist of what you gather from Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC, maybe save that for the trash.
For Ahmed to use "Internment" as a way to say "if we're not careful this can happen again" is not only ridiculous, but tone deaf. It IS happening right NOW. We have mass incarceration and the prison inustrial complex. This book isn't even close to being dystopian because it's so pitifully off the mark. There's a part where a Black Muslim says "I'm not oppressed".....WHAT?? Systemic oppression doesn't have an "opt out" feature.
Not to mention the utterly naive portrayal of Jake, the military white savior in the classical "not all white people are bad". Ahmed, they don't need your pat on the back. Preaching about "complicit silence", as you go in to skip over ALL the shit this settler nation state as done to say "this land is built on life liberty and justice for all". Are you KIDDING ME?! This nation continues to kidnap people from neighborhoods and lock them in jail WITH NO CHARGES (See: Rikers) and continue to decimate First People's lives and land. Clearly this book wasn't for me, but for all her cries of fascistic rhetoric, this book will do a great job of shoring up the foundation of fascism already present in this country.
This showed no imagination or understanding of what systems are at play. This military is responsible for war crimes all over the WORLD, but I guess it's not as visible here, so shoulder shrug there. Go team, I guess? Like what?
The whole thing was a disappointment and every character in this book was one dimensional. YA Fiction deserves better.
For Ahmed to use "Internment" as a way to say "if we're not careful this can happen again" is not only ridiculous, but tone deaf. It IS happening right NOW. We have mass incarceration and the prison inustrial complex. This book isn't even close to being dystopian because it's so pitifully off the mark. There's a part where a Black Muslim says "I'm not oppressed".....WHAT?? Systemic oppression doesn't have an "opt out" feature.
Not to mention the utterly naive portrayal of Jake, the military white savior in the classical "not all white people are bad". Ahmed, they don't need your pat on the back. Preaching about "complicit silence", as you go in to skip over ALL the shit this settler nation state as done to say "this land is built on life liberty and justice for all". Are you KIDDING ME?! This nation continues to kidnap people from neighborhoods and lock them in jail WITH NO CHARGES (See: Rikers) and continue to decimate First People's lives and land. Clearly this book wasn't for me, but for all her cries of fascistic rhetoric, this book will do a great job of shoring up the foundation of fascism already present in this country.
This showed no imagination or understanding of what systems are at play. This military is responsible for war crimes all over the WORLD, but I guess it's not as visible here, so shoulder shrug there. Go team, I guess? Like what?
The whole thing was a disappointment and every character in this book was one dimensional. YA Fiction deserves better.
Solitary by Albert Woodfox
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
I'm not sure that there are words that adequately describe how one would read this book and be an utter shock and awe of what Woodfox has been through. There's several times I cried, I wanted to throw the book, or I wanted to scream from the injustice and my own feeling of helplessness. But there also was an amazing light of hopefulness and of unbroken spirit, that just wouldn't let go. I even knew how it would end, but even then I'm still angry in the way that it had to end for Albert to see freedom. This is more than a story of a man's torture and prevailing through that torture, this is a call to action for all of us to understand that the time for being silent was never an option and reform was never a real solution.
Raising consciousness is about human survival.
Raising consciousness is about human survival.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting