Sassy, delightful rom-com. Undergrad Kiki, smart and cynical, runs a radio show encouraging women to stand up to toxic masculinity… which is why it’s problematic when she’s seen kissing Malakai, one of the more notorious players on campus. When she tries to figure out how she can finagle her relationship with him to best protect her image, she finds him to be unexpectedly helpful. The characters trade brilliant barbs and snappy comebacks at a dizzying pace, and although the story follows a very typical romance arc, it also manages to explore themes of race, identity, self-image, public image, and friendship along the way. Super fun.
Tag: genre-race
Dandelion, by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
Lily is the child of two ethnic Chinese who immigrated to Canada from Brunei. Her father, who was stateless (without citizenship) in Brunei, wholeheartedly embraces his Canadian citizenship and identity; in contrast, her mother cannot (or will not) adapt to the colder, drier climate and longs to return. This conflict culminates in the mother’s abrupt departure, which haunts Lily until she becomes a mother herself. Seeking closure, she sets out to find out what happened to her mother. The writing style is simple and sometimes a bit awkward, but the novel is touching, with themes of culture clash, mental illness, citizenship, belonging, and how family ties can support and stifle in equal measure.
Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, by Elie Mystal
Mystal’s take on the Constitution of the United States is essentially this: it was written by white male supremacists interested in codifying white male supremacy, and then interpreted and enforced by further white male supremacists interested in retaining said supremacy; this has continued right up through to the current day, with only occasional hard-fought moments of relief. He backs this up with quotations, facts from the historical record, and examples from current events. Mystal does not spare liberals either, excoriating them for working within a system designed to promote inequality, instead of fixing the racist foundations. His tone is educated, snarky, occasionally profane, and incredibly readable; the only reason I couldn’t devour this in one go is because there is only so much rage I can handle (and corroborating examples from the news) before I need to give my brain a break.
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith
I cannot tell you how good this book was. Smith dives deeply into plantations, memorials, cemeteries, prisons, and his own family oral history; he gathers viewpoints directly from docents and other visitors, and lets their words stand next to what facts can be gleaned from the historical record. He talks with people who have set ideas on what their history is, and with those who are still open to learning more; he interrogates the stories that Americans tell themselves about their shared history, and where those stories originated (very often as propaganda). He wanders through the American landscape as if it’s a crime scene, which it very much is; not only were horrific crimes committed here against so many, but the crime against Black America is still unfolding, and the weight of it affects everything we do and defines who we are. The narration is often punctuated by piercing insights, and the prose is just beautiful. Truly amazing portrait of how far we’ve come, where we are now, and how far we have yet to go in reckoning with the impact of slavery in America.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
Wilkerson posits that the race-based unspoken social rules in America are analogous to a caste system like the one in India, and also pitilessly demonstrates how Nazi Germany formed their own systems of categorizing people based on what they learned of the US. There are oh so many details in this book (and it’s another one which I intend to buy later, so I can mark it up and drink it in properly) but my best takeaway from this book is that if you look at racism in the US from the viewpoint of a caste system, then it makes total sense that people doing racist things don’t see themselves as racist; the word “racist” implies a person who is acting outside the bounds of civil behavior, whereas since the entire foundation of American civil society is bounded and defined by racism, those steeped in that culture will justify any actions taken in upholding that system. With patient, inexorable detail, Wilkerson uncovers the pillars supporting the caste system, and provides many examples of how it hurts all Americans, not just the ones at the bottom.
Four Hundred Souls, by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
When I picked up this book of four hundred years of Black history in America, I mentally braced for impact, because it’s so painful to even think about: slavery to segregation, Jim Crow to BLM, and still so far from real equality after all this time. And yet this book was a gift. Eighty amazing writers (and ten wonderful poets) came together, each taking on a span of history, to share so many stories of resilience and courage and determination. At every point in history, a racist America was consciously constructed and reinforced to keep Black people contained, and yet at every one of those points, Black people fought stubbornly for their right to exist. This book could have been a litany of sorrow, but instead celebrates how Black resistance grew and strengthened with every obstacle. If it weren’t a library copy I would have left sticky notes on every other page. When we finally settle down where we don’t need to worry about moving weight, I’m buying a copy.