Before picking up Bad Feminist, I had seen Roxane Gay in a few TV interviews in passing. She's always struck me as a thoughtful analyst of issues. But now I know something else. She's FUNNY! This book was funny. There's an entire essay devoted to how awful the 50 Shades series is and it's hilarious. Part memoir, part op-ed type essays, Bad Feminist describes one woman's navigation of the complex world of feminism and all the trappings that go along with trying, or avoiding, declaring oneself as such. I'm was also reminded throughout this book why it is so important to make sure one is exposed to a variety of voices and narratives outside the echo chamber we create for ourselves within and without social media. Many more years ago than I realized had passed, I read The Help with my book club and attended an author talk about the book in Chicago. I remember being vaguely uncomfortable at the use of dialect in the book, written by a white woman, about black women in the Civil Rights Era South. But, for lots of reasons, I didn't recognize the very basis of the book as problematic. And then, overtime, I came to realize the deeply flawed foundation of the book. And Roxane Gay laid it all out in an essay on the topic in this book.She also dove deep into her Scrabble talent. I didn't realize, but probably should have, that there were such things as competitive Scrabble tournaments. There were deeply heartbreaking stories mixed into the story that give a glimpse of the author and her early life's journey. Overall it was a very enjoyable 11 hours to spend in someone's company.
4/5 Stars.
This is the third nonfiction book I've read by a WOC this year (black woman to be specific) and I'm so glad to be hearing these new voices and growing in understanding of a life experience I am not closely familiar with. So This Will Be My Undoing was a deliberate pick by me to do better, to be more aware and to really just appreciate the story of someone who I might otherwise never had heard from.I loved Morgan's essay which explored living in Harlem and what Harlem meant and how she saw it. I loved thinking about spaces outside of a white gaze. I am accustomed to looking at culture through my own white lens. My own (flawed and often unconscious) judgments are based on the white norms I have accepted and reinforced. The ways in which I expect people to ask, the conformity I expect them to accept is based on expectations that have their origin in white supremacy. Maybe the first step of allyship is to really listen to the stories of POC and specifically WOC and specifically black women. I'm there. I'm doing that part. And now it feels not quite enough. Like this is the baseline. This is the absolute minimum. Morgan talks about going to Japan as a middle school and then undergrad student. And during that time there she would walk into a store and the attentive sales people would help her and ask if she needed anything. This was such a mind blowing experience that she couldn't wait to see her own mother experience it as well. Wait, back up. Yep, that's what I wrote. This brilliant, beautiful, multi-lingual woman was feeling truly seen, by a sales clerk. Shit, America we are doing something dreadfully wrong if we can't even up our game to baseline dignity and respect for women of color by saying hello and asking if they need help when they enter our shops. Phoebe Robinson told a similar story about going to a Michael's store and standing at the framing counter waiting to be helped. (You can read my review of Phoebe's book, You Can't Touch My Hair here). She wasn't even acknowledged and several other customers walked in later and were helped in front of her. So, yes. This is a problem. This is a embarrassing basic problem. We need to not only see WOC, but we need to allow them to take up whatever space they need AND be fine with it.
4/5 Stars.
Wow. What a painful and powerful story. Their Eyes Were Watching God is about a naive but strong willed teenager, Janie Crawford who bows to her grandmother's influence and marries a man decades her senior. A former slave, her grandmother had visions and hopes for Janie that were different from Janie's own. And a loveless marriage makes Janie ache for those things she wants for herself. In order to find happiness she runs off with another man who promises her more freedom, only to find out that this man's definition of freedom is not her own. It is only as a wealthy but still young and beautiful widow that Janie meets Tea Cake, a young gambler who gives her a taste of the life she really wants. Their love story is simple and complicated at the same time. With great love comes great tragedy, and Hurston hits the notes perfectly.Years ahead of its time in themes of feminism, self-discovery, and self-determination for women, Janie is a force, an unforgettable heroine in the midst of lesser models.
4.5/5 Stars.
