First Impression Book Reviews 6/17/2020

First Impression Book Reviews

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

4.5/5

"I was made for the library not the classroom"
Made me want to learn more about the African and Caribbean histories and literary canons that he mentions.
"To challenge the police is to challenge the American people"
"Hate gives identity"
"These are the preferences of the universe itself: verbs over nouns, actions over states, struggle over hope"
He talks about a cannibalistic democracy - no mountains without valleys
The black body was a major theme. This included how the body was the soul, the relationship between black bodies and violence, what space they occupy, how to claim/control your body. Also, white and black were discussed not as a race but as a status/classification. Black is bound by a dream, as a tribe, not a race.
"Perhaps being named black was someone's name for being at the bottom"
Struggle vs. dream
Identity as a label vs. a quality

--- In my Women and Literature class at BYU we discussed the black body, especially when we read Citizen. I enjoyed Coates perspective on the conversation and how he restructures the conversation by talking about race as a status and his struggle to identify with it and the associated violence. The fact that the book is written as a letter to his son makes the whole story feel even more personal and intimate. It also strengthens the theme of heritage in the book and allows the past to connect with the future. The book was not as long as I expected and very easy to get through, very engaging---

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

5/5

"Time catches up to kingdoms and crushes them"

"One can give nothing whatsoever without giving oneself, risking oneself"

We bury ourselves in symbols to deny the facts of death. Earn one's death by confronting the conundrum of death

"Love takes off the masks we cannot live without and cannot live within"

"People who cannot suffer can never grow up, discover what they are"

"It is the innocence that constitutes the crime"

"You were expected to make peace with mediocrity"

"If you know whence you came there is no limit to where you can go"

"To act is to be committed. And to be committed is to be in danger."

"To defend oneself against fear is to ensure that one day one will be conquered by it. Fears must be faced."

---I want to own this book so I can write all over it and underline my favorite passages. Baldwin has a way with words that feel intoxicating and that leaves an impression on you. Personally, I appreciated his perspective on love/pity being the only reaction to racist people. Despite his struggle with religion, this felt very Christian and empowering to me. I was fascinated by his discussion of struggle vs. hope and the role of religion in black lives and the civil rights movements, in both positive and negative ways. The work felt both vulnerable and strong---