Native American Heritage Month
Brigid asked this question about A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1):
Hearing tell of some incredibly racist passages in this. Who else is taking this off their TBR?
Zeke I find this argument somewhat odd. Did the author make mistakes? Certainly. Does one paragraph stereotyping a hairstyle make the entire book racist an…moreI find this argument somewhat odd. Did the author make mistakes? Certainly. Does one paragraph stereotyping a hairstyle make the entire book racist and terrible? Not in my eyes. It's purely up to personal preference, but I don't read into the racial undertones because I think it distracts from the point of the story. I read that passage and my only thought was, "Wow, no one else ever addresses how ANY hairstyle could be disadvantageous." I think much the same thing about conspicuously pointing out students as a certain race. Honestly, I find it pointless and somewhat jarring when it's dropped once and never mentioned again. I do think she should have done her research and tried to make all the language make sense from a historical perspective, but if you consider that it's just fantasy it still is a minor quibble. If I thought the author was deliberately trying to be racist I would have a different opinion, but I don't get that impression. In summary, I think it's reasonable to read a book and enjoy it for what it is without freaking out about a few passages that aren't perfectly racially sensitive. It's all subjective, but anyone inclined to believe the whole "Black people are dirty" is already racist. (less)
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A Deadly Education
by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author)
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