Zami - September & October 2021

[Darren]

In September & October we will be reading Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde for our Love category - who's in?

[Pamela]

I’m in, starting soon!

[Pamela]

I’ve just finished this, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was beautifully written, and I liked it from a number of angles - a really interesting biography of childhood and young adulthood, a slice of social history from the 1950s, and an exploration of relationships from the Black lesbian perspective (Lorde makes some interesting points about the intersectionality of race/gender/sexuality and how that impacts the dynamics of her relationships).

Is anyone else reading this one? I would recommend it.

[Phil]

I’m about 150pp in and Lorde is flying to Mexico. Like you, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. A lot of these autobiographies of becoming a writer can leave me cold, but this one is within a milieu I’m not jaded about yet and her prose is intensely poetic and she knows just how long to stay with one situation before moving on, so I’ve never yet been left bored.

Yes, highly recommended so far, I’d say.

[Phil]

4*
Review: A fascinating, poetic and vibrant insight into the world of a young black lesbian growing up in New York. Not quite 5 stars because not enough really happens (not the fault of the writer and her life, but books do tend to require conflict and variety). A writer and novel I doubt I’d ever have encountered had I not been in the “Guardian 1000 Novels” GR Group. Recommended.

[Pamela]

Phil wrote: ".Not quite 5 stars because not enough really happens (not the fault of the writer and her life, but books do tend to require conflict and variety)..."

I agree with that, particularly for the second half of the book when Lorde has a stable home and a cycle of similar relationships. I enjoyed the Mexico part most.