From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought

Though short, this book packs a punch to the gut. We're only a couple of weeks into 2016, and I can already tell that this book will be one I recommend over and over again throughout the year.
It's not an easy book to read. It's challenging not only in the style of writing and the diction, but also in the message. It's the type of book you will probably see paired with Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X in future college classes.
"What I wanted for you was to grow into consciousness."
"' ...more
It's not an easy book to read. It's challenging not only in the style of writing and the diction, but also in the message. It's the type of book you will probably see paired with Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X in future college classes.
"What I wanted for you was to grow into consciousness."
"' ...more

I ended up reading a lot of this book out loud, to myself. And I repeated a lot of passages to myself, for emphasis.
Everyone should read it.
"Perhaps that was, is, the hope of the movement: to awaken the Dreamers, to rouse them to the facts of what their need to be white, to talk like they are white, to think that they are white, which is to think that they are beyond the design flaws of humanity, has done to the world." ...more
Everyone should read it.
"Perhaps that was, is, the hope of the movement: to awaken the Dreamers, to rouse them to the facts of what their need to be white, to talk like they are white, to think that they are white, which is to think that they are beyond the design flaws of humanity, has done to the world." ...more

I don't know the best way to go about booktalking this one, other than to say Coates delves into the country's relationship with race ... both from a personal and historical perspective. It's written as a letter to his teenage son, but is addressed to everyone, especially this current generation of young people. It's bound to be thought-provoking for anyone who reads it, but just how eye-opening, or perspective-shifting you find it will depend on where you are right now. Some readers will find t
...more

A quick read, but not an easy one by any stretch. I'd say it was scathing, but in truth there is no language that is harsh enough for the system of capitalist oppression that has driven global development. Instead, let's use damning, because this is the most honest and comprehensive analysis of the systematic dehumanization of others and the claiming of privilege for one's self. Reading this made me so immeasurably sad, and yet I appreciate Coates' claim on joy, because in the absence of the un-
...more


Oct 19, 2015
Joseph
is currently reading it

Jan 11, 2016
Deanna M
marked it as to-read

Jul 11, 2016
Martha
added it


Oct 15, 2016
Sarah
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2016-book-riot-challenge