Happy Mothers' Day 🥀🎕💮⚘
And goodbye March
And goodbye Google+
Sunday 31 March 2019
Saturday 30 March 2019
Book Review - 'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' by Liza Palmer
2021 EDIT: Reread, after shamefacedly forgetting everything that happens in this book: It's a spectacular, deceptively simple Carol Danvers - not Captain Marvel - children's/YA novel. Full of brilliant, life affirming lessons to take away from, especially for girls and women. Female empowerment, friendship and thrills are taken to the skies, where there are no limits. Feel what it's like to fly, to work terribly hard, to be exhausted (physically, emotionally and mentally), to be exhilarated (like an inexperienced teenager), and to make lifelong friends and "let yourself learn", from reading these pages.
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' is not a superhero book; it is meant to reflect real life; but it is super.
Carol and Maria would make a great, soaring, revolutionary team and power couple, of any kind.
Read my original review for more.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' - a middle grade/YA companion piece to the movie, about Carol Danvers' first year at the US Air Force Academy. A girl born to fly, she is determined to make her dream come true and mark her name in history, as the first US female fighter pilot, in a world that won't give her a chance even when she's done everything and more to earn it.
'Higher, Further, Faster' - the title reminds me of Kelly Sue DeConnick's comics run, and good grief how I miss that. After the disaster that is 'The Life of Captain Marvel', I'm currently boycotting Marvel (again!), or at least their 'Captain Marvel' run, until I know for sure that that retcon is, well, retconned. At the same time, I didn't want that comic to possibly be the last time I read about Carol Danvers, so the 2019 YA novel seemed a safe bet; as a product of the excellent movie, and not the comics.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is set before Carol becomes Captain Marvel, before she is involved with any Kree in fact, so the title is mostly brand recognition. Still, the book is an enjoyable, inspirational flyby for a day. Preferably on a sunny day in a California desert, or near an airbase (how I wish I could've read it on any of my trips to America!)
This accessible novel is highly inspirational for young girls, and boys. It is about believing in yourself and overcoming challenges and obstacles on a micro as well as major-aggressive level and so on (even the dialogue comments on how cheesy and after-school special this sounds). But it goes deeper than that.
Carol Danvers is complex and likeable here. In a narrative told from her POV, her dialogue and attitude are a hoot, and her internal monologues peel back her brash confidence and reveal her insecurities and uncertainties. She's as physically fit, capable and determined as you can get. I loved reading about her relationship with planes of all kinds, and her exhilarating descriptions of flying. I felt like I was experiencing it with her. However, like any human, she houses doubts that she's both consciously and unconsciously aware of.
At the beginning of the book, before she sets foot at the flight school, Carol is almost arrested for chasing down and cornering a guy in a Jaguar, after he did a hit-and-run on a female driver. Upon hearing her ambitions, a female state trooper, Wright, gives Carol a piece of advice - literally written on a piece of paper in place of a ticket - "Let yourself learn". These three deceptively simple words work to thread the events and themes together throughout the book, for Carol's character development. It's clever, and quite deep and teary.
But the biggest highlight of 'Higher, Further, Faster' is the friendship Carol has with Maria Rambeau. They hit it off almost right away, as roommates. They work so well together. Their banter is funny, they are practically inseparable, are consolable, and have each other's backs. The two best friends are just so lovely together, it's yet another inspiration. It's beyond touching. Far substantial and better explored than in the film, even.
As the academy's two of its very few women members, it's easy to get very lonely and isolated; and Carol and Maria, their friendship is more than what one could have hoped for.
Greatest female friendship read in 2019 has a contender.
Oh, and there are a few men on their squadron who they also grow close to. These boys listen to and learn about the inner workings of the patriarchy from Carol and Maria, and become better people as a result. The book has some good POC diversity. It's nice that Carol has a tight-knit group of friends, who are genuinely there for her, at the intimidating academy and its extremely strict, physically, emotionally and mentally taxing regimes. Estranged from her own family, Carol unwittingly becomes a part of this family of literal high fliers.
Fantastic platonic male and female relationship rep, too. Like in the blockbuster film, there is no romance here! Yahoo!
Could have used more of Carol making other female friends, like Zoe Noble, who dreams of being an astronaut.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is well written, fast-paced and atmospheric. It maturely deals with themes of sexism, how the patriarchy works and thrives, and the endless self-doubt that is drilled so often and deliberately into women and girls with big dreams.
It isn't overt when dealing with racism, disappointingly - in fact that issue can generously be chalked down to barely existing. There also isn't a plot so much as a sequence of events that Carol goes through - hardworking, passing with flying colours, stubbornly unobserved by her male superiors - in order to achieve her goals her first year as a flyer. And to find out what she really, truly wants out of life, for herself and no one else.
It's purely coming-of-age. So anyone looking for a world-saving superhero adventure might want to stick to the comics (or not, since, as I've said, those have been terrible recently *cough* fuckyoulifeofcaptainmarvel*cough*).
Officer/Captain Jenks is the closest thing to a villain the novel has. He is a horrific, passive-aggressive sexist bastard who makes Carol's life hell because she's a woman who dares to exist at the Air Force. In his way, he is a megalomaniac; one of the persistent, vile, vicious tools of the patriarchy determined to keep women down and out of the spotlight. He refuses to change and grow, unlike Carol. It doesn't matter how high Jenks outranks her and will continue to do so no matter what either of them do, she will always be better than him, and she knows it.
A man's world is outdated, and together Carol and Maria will make their own world. They will keep progressing, moving forward, and flying higher...
So, good book. Awe-inspiring, funny and touching. Read it if you are a 'Captain Marvel' fan, or you just like the movie.
Let girls and women be proud. Proud of themselves as well as others. Let them know that they are great. That they are the best.
Okay, one more thing.
Takes deep breath:
IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK, CAROL DANVERS! YOUR SASS AND WIT AND HUMOUR AND CONFIDENCE WERE MISSED!
Final Score: 4/5
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' is not a superhero book; it is meant to reflect real life; but it is super.
Carol and Maria would make a great, soaring, revolutionary team and power couple, of any kind.
Read my original review for more.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
'Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster' - a middle grade/YA companion piece to the movie, about Carol Danvers' first year at the US Air Force Academy. A girl born to fly, she is determined to make her dream come true and mark her name in history, as the first US female fighter pilot, in a world that won't give her a chance even when she's done everything and more to earn it.
'Higher, Further, Faster' - the title reminds me of Kelly Sue DeConnick's comics run, and good grief how I miss that. After the disaster that is 'The Life of Captain Marvel', I'm currently boycotting Marvel (again!), or at least their 'Captain Marvel' run, until I know for sure that that retcon is, well, retconned. At the same time, I didn't want that comic to possibly be the last time I read about Carol Danvers, so the 2019 YA novel seemed a safe bet; as a product of the excellent movie, and not the comics.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is set before Carol becomes Captain Marvel, before she is involved with any Kree in fact, so the title is mostly brand recognition. Still, the book is an enjoyable, inspirational flyby for a day. Preferably on a sunny day in a California desert, or near an airbase (how I wish I could've read it on any of my trips to America!)
This accessible novel is highly inspirational for young girls, and boys. It is about believing in yourself and overcoming challenges and obstacles on a micro as well as major-aggressive level and so on (even the dialogue comments on how cheesy and after-school special this sounds). But it goes deeper than that.
Carol Danvers is complex and likeable here. In a narrative told from her POV, her dialogue and attitude are a hoot, and her internal monologues peel back her brash confidence and reveal her insecurities and uncertainties. She's as physically fit, capable and determined as you can get. I loved reading about her relationship with planes of all kinds, and her exhilarating descriptions of flying. I felt like I was experiencing it with her. However, like any human, she houses doubts that she's both consciously and unconsciously aware of.
At the beginning of the book, before she sets foot at the flight school, Carol is almost arrested for chasing down and cornering a guy in a Jaguar, after he did a hit-and-run on a female driver. Upon hearing her ambitions, a female state trooper, Wright, gives Carol a piece of advice - literally written on a piece of paper in place of a ticket - "Let yourself learn". These three deceptively simple words work to thread the events and themes together throughout the book, for Carol's character development. It's clever, and quite deep and teary.
But the biggest highlight of 'Higher, Further, Faster' is the friendship Carol has with Maria Rambeau. They hit it off almost right away, as roommates. They work so well together. Their banter is funny, they are practically inseparable, are consolable, and have each other's backs. The two best friends are just so lovely together, it's yet another inspiration. It's beyond touching. Far substantial and better explored than in the film, even.
As the academy's two of its very few women members, it's easy to get very lonely and isolated; and Carol and Maria, their friendship is more than what one could have hoped for.
Greatest female friendship read in 2019 has a contender.
Oh, and there are a few men on their squadron who they also grow close to. These boys listen to and learn about the inner workings of the patriarchy from Carol and Maria, and become better people as a result. The book has some good POC diversity. It's nice that Carol has a tight-knit group of friends, who are genuinely there for her, at the intimidating academy and its extremely strict, physically, emotionally and mentally taxing regimes. Estranged from her own family, Carol unwittingly becomes a part of this family of literal high fliers.
Fantastic platonic male and female relationship rep, too. Like in the blockbuster film, there is no romance here! Yahoo!
Could have used more of Carol making other female friends, like Zoe Noble, who dreams of being an astronaut.
'Higher, Further, Faster' is well written, fast-paced and atmospheric. It maturely deals with themes of sexism, how the patriarchy works and thrives, and the endless self-doubt that is drilled so often and deliberately into women and girls with big dreams.
It isn't overt when dealing with racism, disappointingly - in fact that issue can generously be chalked down to barely existing. There also isn't a plot so much as a sequence of events that Carol goes through - hardworking, passing with flying colours, stubbornly unobserved by her male superiors - in order to achieve her goals her first year as a flyer. And to find out what she really, truly wants out of life, for herself and no one else.
It's purely coming-of-age. So anyone looking for a world-saving superhero adventure might want to stick to the comics (or not, since, as I've said, those have been terrible recently *cough* fuckyoulifeofcaptainmarvel*cough*).
Officer/Captain Jenks is the closest thing to a villain the novel has. He is a horrific, passive-aggressive sexist bastard who makes Carol's life hell because she's a woman who dares to exist at the Air Force. In his way, he is a megalomaniac; one of the persistent, vile, vicious tools of the patriarchy determined to keep women down and out of the spotlight. He refuses to change and grow, unlike Carol. It doesn't matter how high Jenks outranks her and will continue to do so no matter what either of them do, she will always be better than him, and she knows it.
A man's world is outdated, and together Carol and Maria will make their own world. They will keep progressing, moving forward, and flying higher...
So, good book. Awe-inspiring, funny and touching. Read it if you are a 'Captain Marvel' fan, or you just like the movie.
Let girls and women be proud. Proud of themselves as well as others. Let them know that they are great. That they are the best.
Okay, one more thing.
Takes deep breath:
IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK, CAROL DANVERS! YOUR SASS AND WIT AND HUMOUR AND CONFIDENCE WERE MISSED!
Final Score: 4/5
Book Review - 'Beowulf' by Seamus Heaney (Translator)
2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
And the award for the biggest surprise read of 2019 so far goes to...
Really, I'd only wanted to give 'Beowulf' a try because of its status in classic literature and pop culture, its apparent major influence on human storytelling, and that it's a "must read" for bookworms. Its origins date back to 536; its so old its author is unknown. But the translation I read is by Seamus Heaney, who is clearly passionate about his work. 'Beowulf', the Anglo-Saxon epic poem set in and around Denmark, is kinda great. I finished it in a day.
Critiquing it by its translation, it's picturesque and gets to the point fast-pace. It's easy to understand and get through, and exciting. Its characters are distinct and interesting, and its rich in detail and atmosphere (lots of gold!) yet condensed to include as much action as it can. I see how it may have influenced later myths, legends, fables, fairy tales, and blockbusters.
Beowulf might be the world's first Gary Stu, and the biggest of all time: he's so strong, wise, dexterous, overpowered and beloved, it's mad. Everybody speaks highly of him and about him, and anyone who doesn't initially is won over fairly quickly. But Beowulf will be admired anyway. A superhuman who beats murderous monsters with his bare hands and gives motivational and inspiring speeches, what's to hate?
Throughout his ordeals and life, as a prince, a warrior, a king - the poem ends with his hero's death after defeating a hoarding dragon - he never takes a lover, nor a wife, at least. When there are a few female characters, like queens (not to mention the demonic Grendel's vengeful mother), who do speak. Take that,Tolkien 'The Hobbit'.
Legends and superheroes owe a lot to Beowulf.
'Beowulf' is also very preachy and pious for its time. Nonetheless it is enjoyable for the most reluctant readers, and for people who don't usually read poetry, like myself. Its reputation proceeds it quite rightly: it is, well, epic.
Final Score: 4/5
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
And the award for the biggest surprise read of 2019 so far goes to...
Really, I'd only wanted to give 'Beowulf' a try because of its status in classic literature and pop culture, its apparent major influence on human storytelling, and that it's a "must read" for bookworms. Its origins date back to 536; its so old its author is unknown. But the translation I read is by Seamus Heaney, who is clearly passionate about his work. 'Beowulf', the Anglo-Saxon epic poem set in and around Denmark, is kinda great. I finished it in a day.
Critiquing it by its translation, it's picturesque and gets to the point fast-pace. It's easy to understand and get through, and exciting. Its characters are distinct and interesting, and its rich in detail and atmosphere (lots of gold!) yet condensed to include as much action as it can. I see how it may have influenced later myths, legends, fables, fairy tales, and blockbusters.
Beowulf might be the world's first Gary Stu, and the biggest of all time: he's so strong, wise, dexterous, overpowered and beloved, it's mad. Everybody speaks highly of him and about him, and anyone who doesn't initially is won over fairly quickly. But Beowulf will be admired anyway. A superhuman who beats murderous monsters with his bare hands and gives motivational and inspiring speeches, what's to hate?
Throughout his ordeals and life, as a prince, a warrior, a king - the poem ends with his hero's death after defeating a hoarding dragon - he never takes a lover, nor a wife, at least. When there are a few female characters, like queens (not to mention the demonic Grendel's vengeful mother), who do speak. Take that,
Legends and superheroes owe a lot to Beowulf.
'Beowulf' is also very preachy and pious for its time. Nonetheless it is enjoyable for the most reluctant readers, and for people who don't usually read poetry, like myself. Its reputation proceeds it quite rightly: it is, well, epic.
Final Score: 4/5
Saturday 23 March 2019
Book Review - 'Internment' by Samira Ahmed
2023 REREAD: Still an extremely important and relevant novel. It's just that I couldn't get behind Layla's character inconsistencies and confusing, unself-aware contradictions, especially at the beginning. She needs a lot of men to save her and support her nearly all the time, as well. At least she has a few female friends and allies, but they needed more page time; their presence and characterisation are hardly as strong as the numerous male characters'.
The romantic elements are weak and forced; as are the pop culture references, of which I really don't like. It still has to be a YA novel, it seems. Then there's the Bury Your Gays of two people who only exist on one page, in passing, and the prominent, blatant white saviour in the form of Jake Reynolds, who is dangerously close to being as much the protagonist as Layla is. He's a complicit white saviour, very possibly having feelings for his underaged, brown-skinned captive. Yikes.
The book is also a bit too long.
But my point stands, in that everyone should read 'Internment', even if its diversity isn't all-encompassing, far-reaching and perfect. Its lessons, its warnings, its history, the legacy it represents, these remain vital to teach everywhere. Education is key.
Bye, 'Internment'. I might forget your content - characters, story - but not your lessons.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Another extremely relevant YA novel, hopefully a standalone.
Make no mistake, the author doesn't attempt to hide in the slightest that 'Internment' is set in our world. It contains current pop culture, media and political references. It most likely would not even exist if the 2016 presidential election had turned out differently. This 2019 novel is unapologetically political; its events could happen tomorrow - in fact, in ways that are underreported it is happening - and not in some distant, nondescript future like in any other dystopian book.
We live in dangerous times, where social progress and basic human rights are constantly threatened; a fact that is so painfully obvious that it's not a bit humorous, and 'Internment' is much needed. Similar to 'The Hate U Give', it is YA that reflects our contemporary society. It's not merely diverse, it's life. It serves a purpose that is real, harrowing, horrifying, and educational, as well as entertaining, and everyone will benefit from reading it. 'Internment' could be far more unsettling than 'The Hunger Games'.
Internment camps are a travesty, a human rights violation, rooted in prejudice. They are one of history's sickest, most disgraceful mistakes, no better than Nazi concentration camps, that cannot and should not be repeated. Yet turn on the news, follow today's politics, and what do you hear? What are our so-called wise, overprivileged, adult authoritarian politicians high up in government - certain someones who would very much like to be called "Leader" - doing with their power?
Fascism is increasing, as is Islamophobia and other prejudices. Groups of people's right to exist is still being debated. How did we get here?
Samira Ahmed's debut is brilliant. Action-based, addictive writing that can be devoured in two days at least - another reason it reminded me of 'The Hunger Games'. As well as biting, angry social commentary that is impossible to ignore, the characters are unforgettable, some almost breathtaking in their uniqueness.
The heroine, Layla Amin, may appear to be a typical tough, hardheaded and reckless teenage girl protag in YA, but she is very brave, considerate, highly educated despite being forced to miss school due to bigotry, and she's snarky and funny. She was created to be inspirational.
Muslim-Americans are forced into an internment camp, called Mobius, in a desert in the middle of nowhere. Layla won't stay silent in the face of this injustice, where her freedom, and that of her family and people, is taken away, just because they exist, and are viewed as Other in America. The millions of them that live there are "a threat to America".
Muslim-Americans are Americans. And they are consistently reduced to scapegoats, the Enemy in full view of the real enemy - racists, and those nostalgic for the racist past. "Security" and "Prosperity" are lies, excuses. Any excuse to have an Other, to put blame on the underprivileged, and for a white man to hold a gun, and feel powerful and in control of the weak.
All bullies are cowards, alright.
Mobius won't be the only internment camp set up in American soil...
Bigotry kills. Anger at injustice, the natural human need for freedom - revolutions - will never die.
Layla's parents are afraid for their daughter, so they mostly stay silent in the devastating situation which destroys their lives, where one night they are suddenly forced into Mobius, because Layla's father wrote poetry that is vaguely about freedom, love and unity - truly values that America doesn't tolerate. The parents are not bad people. Before the "Muslim ban" in America, they allowed Layla as much freedom as she wanted. They clearly love their teenage Layla and want to protect her, and if that means submitting to subjugation for fear of torture or death, then they'll make the best of passivity, even as it kills them inside. Their love and support for, and rhythm with, each other refuses to die, however. It's refreshing to see loving, if not wholly supportive, parents in YA, and after reading about the typically strict, rigid, conservative Muslim parents in 'The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali', I am so happy about this.
Layla makes instant female friends with Ayesha at the camp. Ayesha is a ray of sunshine, very funny, confident and rebellious, but vulnerable and sensitive as well. The two girls work wonderfully together. Female friendship in YA is always important for representation. And it's not only Ayesha. Layla makes other female friends, young and old - as old as in the eighties, in fact - Indian, Arab, and African-American. Different ethnicities.
Muslims, even but especially those marginalized within their own community, will come together. To survive. Out of love and anger as well as fear, put to good use. United as human beings deserving to live as equals among their society: demanding rights and respect, the freedom to practice their faith as much as other religious groups in America.
All thanks to the voice and actions of a teenage girl, who refuses to remain silent.
I am a bit dubious about Layla's relationship with one of the internment camp's corporals, Jake Reynolds, who is white but is sympathetic towards the imprisoned Muslims, and is working undercover for another, secret revolutionary movement, aside from young Layla's own. He is a nice enough character, but I don't care for him as much as the author probably wants me to. Is he doing all he can to protect Layla and other Muslims? Doubtful. Jake seems too close and fond of Layla, and in dialogue it is offhandedly implied that he has feelings for her, though it is established that he is maybe only a few years older than she is. Layla has a boyfriend, David, who is black and Jewish, and is trying to help her from outside Mobius. Layla loves him very much, in spite of his mishaps, and while she grows to care for Jake, thank good foresight that there isn't really a love triangle in 'Internment' - as if YA dystopia needs anymore of those kisses of death! So Jake's possible feelings concerning Layla stay one-sided.
That was too close.
A star-crossed love between a brown-skinned Muslim teen internee and one of her white complicit captors, when she has a black Jewish boyfriend, would have been bad enough.
Layla's parents are supportive of Layla and David's relationship. Further refreshing representation, amid all the bigotry shown as the villain of human progress and love in the book.
But aside from that uncomfortable trope barely averted, 'Internment' is a must-read (also, sadly, very little, passive LBGTQ rep, I might add). A major theme is the bravery, flexibility, open-mindedness, and righteous energy of the younger generation - of millennials, who are often referred to with scorn, if not outright hatred - as opposed to the fear, inhibitions, jadedness and pessimism of the older generation. With age comes experience, but also apathy and fatigue. And forgetfulness. Most adults are too tired and cynical to do anything to affect positive change in society. The youth are capable of perfectly recognising what's right and what's wrong, and armed with a strong, angry fire burning freshly inside them, they are willing to do something about it. Parents can learn more from their children, than vice versa. This is so true of today it is heartwrenching. Another argument against toxic nostalgia, too.
'Internment' - tells it like it is, right down to the blunt, no-bullshit title. You'll love the heroes (Jake's inclusion and impact is highly debatable, however), and hate the villains who are obviously based on real life bigoted political figures.
Silence and enabling are not golden. You will live in fear, rot inside, and die regardless. "Thoughts and prayers" do nothing in the long run. Do something. Stand up, and demand justice.
'Internment' - dystopia that is set yesterday.
We can't afford to let this happen. To let it keep happening.
Keep going. Keep moving forward. United.
Revolution.
Survival.
For the sake of our future, and for future generations.
'What’s that thing people always say about history? Unless we know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it? Never forget? Isn’t that the lesson? But we always forget. Forgetting is in the American grain.'
'One detail that’s impossible to miss? Just like in the train station, every person with a gun is white, and not white like maybe they’re Bosnian—the kind of white that thinks internment camps are going to make America great again.'
Final Score: 4/5
The romantic elements are weak and forced; as are the pop culture references, of which I really don't like. It still has to be a YA novel, it seems. Then there's the Bury Your Gays of two people who only exist on one page, in passing, and the prominent, blatant white saviour in the form of Jake Reynolds, who is dangerously close to being as much the protagonist as Layla is. He's a complicit white saviour, very possibly having feelings for his underaged, brown-skinned captive. Yikes.
The book is also a bit too long.
But my point stands, in that everyone should read 'Internment', even if its diversity isn't all-encompassing, far-reaching and perfect. Its lessons, its warnings, its history, the legacy it represents, these remain vital to teach everywhere. Education is key.
Bye, 'Internment'. I might forget your content - characters, story - but not your lessons.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Another extremely relevant YA novel, hopefully a standalone.
Make no mistake, the author doesn't attempt to hide in the slightest that 'Internment' is set in our world. It contains current pop culture, media and political references. It most likely would not even exist if the 2016 presidential election had turned out differently. This 2019 novel is unapologetically political; its events could happen tomorrow - in fact, in ways that are underreported it is happening - and not in some distant, nondescript future like in any other dystopian book.
We live in dangerous times, where social progress and basic human rights are constantly threatened; a fact that is so painfully obvious that it's not a bit humorous, and 'Internment' is much needed. Similar to 'The Hate U Give', it is YA that reflects our contemporary society. It's not merely diverse, it's life. It serves a purpose that is real, harrowing, horrifying, and educational, as well as entertaining, and everyone will benefit from reading it. 'Internment' could be far more unsettling than 'The Hunger Games'.
Internment camps are a travesty, a human rights violation, rooted in prejudice. They are one of history's sickest, most disgraceful mistakes, no better than Nazi concentration camps, that cannot and should not be repeated. Yet turn on the news, follow today's politics, and what do you hear? What are our so-called wise, overprivileged, adult authoritarian politicians high up in government - certain someones who would very much like to be called "Leader" - doing with their power?
Fascism is increasing, as is Islamophobia and other prejudices. Groups of people's right to exist is still being debated. How did we get here?
Samira Ahmed's debut is brilliant. Action-based, addictive writing that can be devoured in two days at least - another reason it reminded me of 'The Hunger Games'. As well as biting, angry social commentary that is impossible to ignore, the characters are unforgettable, some almost breathtaking in their uniqueness.
The heroine, Layla Amin, may appear to be a typical tough, hardheaded and reckless teenage girl protag in YA, but she is very brave, considerate, highly educated despite being forced to miss school due to bigotry, and she's snarky and funny. She was created to be inspirational.
Muslim-Americans are forced into an internment camp, called Mobius, in a desert in the middle of nowhere. Layla won't stay silent in the face of this injustice, where her freedom, and that of her family and people, is taken away, just because they exist, and are viewed as Other in America. The millions of them that live there are "a threat to America".
Muslim-Americans are Americans. And they are consistently reduced to scapegoats, the Enemy in full view of the real enemy - racists, and those nostalgic for the racist past. "Security" and "Prosperity" are lies, excuses. Any excuse to have an Other, to put blame on the underprivileged, and for a white man to hold a gun, and feel powerful and in control of the weak.
All bullies are cowards, alright.
Mobius won't be the only internment camp set up in American soil...
Bigotry kills. Anger at injustice, the natural human need for freedom - revolutions - will never die.
Layla's parents are afraid for their daughter, so they mostly stay silent in the devastating situation which destroys their lives, where one night they are suddenly forced into Mobius, because Layla's father wrote poetry that is vaguely about freedom, love and unity - truly values that America doesn't tolerate. The parents are not bad people. Before the "Muslim ban" in America, they allowed Layla as much freedom as she wanted. They clearly love their teenage Layla and want to protect her, and if that means submitting to subjugation for fear of torture or death, then they'll make the best of passivity, even as it kills them inside. Their love and support for, and rhythm with, each other refuses to die, however. It's refreshing to see loving, if not wholly supportive, parents in YA, and after reading about the typically strict, rigid, conservative Muslim parents in 'The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali', I am so happy about this.
Layla makes instant female friends with Ayesha at the camp. Ayesha is a ray of sunshine, very funny, confident and rebellious, but vulnerable and sensitive as well. The two girls work wonderfully together. Female friendship in YA is always important for representation. And it's not only Ayesha. Layla makes other female friends, young and old - as old as in the eighties, in fact - Indian, Arab, and African-American. Different ethnicities.
Muslims, even but especially those marginalized within their own community, will come together. To survive. Out of love and anger as well as fear, put to good use. United as human beings deserving to live as equals among their society: demanding rights and respect, the freedom to practice their faith as much as other religious groups in America.
All thanks to the voice and actions of a teenage girl, who refuses to remain silent.
I am a bit dubious about Layla's relationship with one of the internment camp's corporals, Jake Reynolds, who is white but is sympathetic towards the imprisoned Muslims, and is working undercover for another, secret revolutionary movement, aside from young Layla's own. He is a nice enough character, but I don't care for him as much as the author probably wants me to. Is he doing all he can to protect Layla and other Muslims? Doubtful. Jake seems too close and fond of Layla, and in dialogue it is offhandedly implied that he has feelings for her, though it is established that he is maybe only a few years older than she is. Layla has a boyfriend, David, who is black and Jewish, and is trying to help her from outside Mobius. Layla loves him very much, in spite of his mishaps, and while she grows to care for Jake, thank good foresight that there isn't really a love triangle in 'Internment' - as if YA dystopia needs anymore of those kisses of death! So Jake's possible feelings concerning Layla stay one-sided.
That was too close.
A star-crossed love between a brown-skinned Muslim teen internee and one of her white complicit captors, when she has a black Jewish boyfriend, would have been bad enough.
Layla's parents are supportive of Layla and David's relationship. Further refreshing representation, amid all the bigotry shown as the villain of human progress and love in the book.
But aside from that uncomfortable trope barely averted, 'Internment' is a must-read (also, sadly, very little, passive LBGTQ rep, I might add). A major theme is the bravery, flexibility, open-mindedness, and righteous energy of the younger generation - of millennials, who are often referred to with scorn, if not outright hatred - as opposed to the fear, inhibitions, jadedness and pessimism of the older generation. With age comes experience, but also apathy and fatigue. And forgetfulness. Most adults are too tired and cynical to do anything to affect positive change in society. The youth are capable of perfectly recognising what's right and what's wrong, and armed with a strong, angry fire burning freshly inside them, they are willing to do something about it. Parents can learn more from their children, than vice versa. This is so true of today it is heartwrenching. Another argument against toxic nostalgia, too.
'Internment' - tells it like it is, right down to the blunt, no-bullshit title. You'll love the heroes (Jake's inclusion and impact is highly debatable, however), and hate the villains who are obviously based on real life bigoted political figures.
Silence and enabling are not golden. You will live in fear, rot inside, and die regardless. "Thoughts and prayers" do nothing in the long run. Do something. Stand up, and demand justice.
'Internment' - dystopia that is set yesterday.
We can't afford to let this happen. To let it keep happening.
Keep going. Keep moving forward. United.
Revolution.
Survival.
For the sake of our future, and for future generations.
'What’s that thing people always say about history? Unless we know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it? Never forget? Isn’t that the lesson? But we always forget. Forgetting is in the American grain.'
'One detail that’s impossible to miss? Just like in the train station, every person with a gun is white, and not white like maybe they’re Bosnian—the kind of white that thinks internment camps are going to make America great again.'
Final Score: 4/5
Non-Fiction Book Review - 'The Princess Diarist' by Carrie Fisher
2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 book clear-up, I'm afraid. I'm being particularly picky about the autobiographies and memoirs I own (and in the case of Carrie Fisher, some of the reason for my clearing is my no longer being comfortable owning anything relating to 'Star Wars'). I don't like everything Fisher wrote, but 'The Princess Diarist' is still a good book, made more heartrendering by the fact that it's her final one.
I also wonder how different it might have been if it had been published after Me Too.
RIP Carrie Fisher, you will always be missed.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Carrie Fisher's last book, and it is yet another brilliant, honest, funny, witty, charming, compulsively-readable little memoir to laugh and cry over in a day.
Those thoughtless, vitriolic, borderline sexist negative reviews need not apply here, nor are they welcome.
While I am not a huge 'Star Wars' fan - I like the franchise (far, far away more than its fanbase, but that's another story), and I admire Carrie herself more than the character that made her an icon, Princess Leia - I always love to see and hear the behind-the-scenes true stories of films. And in 'The Princess Diarist', written around the period of filming 'The Force Awakens', Carrie exclusively talks about her time in acting, auditioning for and filming 'Star Wars', at the innocent age of nineteen, and the impact it has had on her entire life.
She's open and blunt about her feelings concerning the fans, and the people she's worked with in making her a star (predominantly she's consumed in the making of her silly hairstyle). And in turning her into a *ahem* sex symbol. For someone who was barely an adult when 'Star Wars' exploded onto the world, unprecedented fame comes with greater prices than not. But Carrie, not to be completely jaded, is mostly grateful and appreciative about it all, and who knows where she might've ended up if she hadn't been an intergalactic princess.
I guess you do have to look back on some things and laugh, and get used to signing millions of autographs and listening to fans' endless gushing tales about when and how they founded 'Star Wars', and that Princess Leia inspired them.
Carrie Fisher would become as much a cultural treasure as the film that launched her into that orbit.
Oh, and she also reveals the "scandalous" affair she had with Harrison Ford during the filming of 'Star Wars'; a shipping she calls "Carrison". I'm not sure she was aware of the weight and significance of a married man nearly twice her age taking advantage of her, as a naïve and vulnerable up-and-coming actress. Plus he had purportedly "saved" her from an all-male film crew at George Lucas's surprise birthday party, who wanted to get her drunk and were about to take her outside. A sure sign that the book was published before #MeToo. But Carrie wasn't stupid even then (she grew up as Hollywood royalty, after all), and admits to initially seeking an affair with somebody, in London and far away from home, where she could have all the fun and experience she desired.
Her time with Ford is surprisingly the least interesting part of this memoir. That chapter is too long for my taste. However, it contains the very humorous anecdote of Carrie's impression of Ford, which actually made him, the strong, silent, frowny, handsome type, smile and chuckle. Then he distanced himself from her when, through secrets let slip in conversation, he realised she wasn't as experienced sexually, nay promiscuous, as she'd made herself out to be through airs. Thus ends their relationship, or lack thereof. Lose lips sink ships, or screwed up and nonsensical morals and priorities do.
Carrie may not bear Harrison Ford ill will, and I hope she wasn't hurt too badly, but that sounds like a skeevy double standard to me. Is she untouchable or not? Naïve or not? Less likely to cause trouble for him or not? "Acting" older than she is, so she's easy, legal pickings?
Typical Hollywood.
'The Princess Diarist' contains, of course, diary entries from nineteen-year-old Carrie Fisher, that were recently founded and remembered, at the time of filming 'Star Wars', and her Carrison affair. She hardly changed: she was an ambitious and creative writer even back then, as well as exceedingly melancholy; signs of her depression and substance taking were evident. Who knew that she also wrote pretty good poetry? It's great reading material, more mature than what you might expect from a teenager.
How warm, enjoyable and heartbreaking 'The Princess Diarist' is; most potent in the wake of Carrie's sudden death at the end of 2016. It's her story, set free and living, into the world. To be remembered forever. Perfect for fans of her and 'Star Wars'.
Honest, endearing, and friendly or not, you will wish you could have met Carrie Fisher. Her affinity to the stars, in every interpretation imaginable, is infinite as it is beyond reach.
We love you, Carrie. Rest in peace.
'Harrison finished shooting first.' (page 106) - was that intentional? How clever was she.
Final Score: 4/5
I also wonder how different it might have been if it had been published after Me Too.
RIP Carrie Fisher, you will always be missed.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Carrie Fisher's last book, and it is yet another brilliant, honest, funny, witty, charming, compulsively-readable little memoir to laugh and cry over in a day.
Those thoughtless, vitriolic, borderline sexist negative reviews need not apply here, nor are they welcome.
While I am not a huge 'Star Wars' fan - I like the franchise (far, far away more than its fanbase, but that's another story), and I admire Carrie herself more than the character that made her an icon, Princess Leia - I always love to see and hear the behind-the-scenes true stories of films. And in 'The Princess Diarist', written around the period of filming 'The Force Awakens', Carrie exclusively talks about her time in acting, auditioning for and filming 'Star Wars', at the innocent age of nineteen, and the impact it has had on her entire life.
She's open and blunt about her feelings concerning the fans, and the people she's worked with in making her a star (predominantly she's consumed in the making of her silly hairstyle). And in turning her into a *ahem* sex symbol. For someone who was barely an adult when 'Star Wars' exploded onto the world, unprecedented fame comes with greater prices than not. But Carrie, not to be completely jaded, is mostly grateful and appreciative about it all, and who knows where she might've ended up if she hadn't been an intergalactic princess.
I guess you do have to look back on some things and laugh, and get used to signing millions of autographs and listening to fans' endless gushing tales about when and how they founded 'Star Wars', and that Princess Leia inspired them.
Carrie Fisher would become as much a cultural treasure as the film that launched her into that orbit.
Oh, and she also reveals the "scandalous" affair she had with Harrison Ford during the filming of 'Star Wars'; a shipping she calls "Carrison". I'm not sure she was aware of the weight and significance of a married man nearly twice her age taking advantage of her, as a naïve and vulnerable up-and-coming actress. Plus he had purportedly "saved" her from an all-male film crew at George Lucas's surprise birthday party, who wanted to get her drunk and were about to take her outside. A sure sign that the book was published before #MeToo. But Carrie wasn't stupid even then (she grew up as Hollywood royalty, after all), and admits to initially seeking an affair with somebody, in London and far away from home, where she could have all the fun and experience she desired.
Her time with Ford is surprisingly the least interesting part of this memoir. That chapter is too long for my taste. However, it contains the very humorous anecdote of Carrie's impression of Ford, which actually made him, the strong, silent, frowny, handsome type, smile and chuckle. Then he distanced himself from her when, through secrets let slip in conversation, he realised she wasn't as experienced sexually, nay promiscuous, as she'd made herself out to be through airs. Thus ends their relationship, or lack thereof. Lose lips sink ships, or screwed up and nonsensical morals and priorities do.
Carrie may not bear Harrison Ford ill will, and I hope she wasn't hurt too badly, but that sounds like a skeevy double standard to me. Is she untouchable or not? Naïve or not? Less likely to cause trouble for him or not? "Acting" older than she is, so she's easy, legal pickings?
Typical Hollywood.
'The Princess Diarist' contains, of course, diary entries from nineteen-year-old Carrie Fisher, that were recently founded and remembered, at the time of filming 'Star Wars', and her Carrison affair. She hardly changed: she was an ambitious and creative writer even back then, as well as exceedingly melancholy; signs of her depression and substance taking were evident. Who knew that she also wrote pretty good poetry? It's great reading material, more mature than what you might expect from a teenager.
How warm, enjoyable and heartbreaking 'The Princess Diarist' is; most potent in the wake of Carrie's sudden death at the end of 2016. It's her story, set free and living, into the world. To be remembered forever. Perfect for fans of her and 'Star Wars'.
Honest, endearing, and friendly or not, you will wish you could have met Carrie Fisher. Her affinity to the stars, in every interpretation imaginable, is infinite as it is beyond reach.
We love you, Carrie. Rest in peace.
'Harrison finished shooting first.' (page 106) - was that intentional? How clever was she.
Final Score: 4/5
Friday 22 March 2019
Book Review - 'The Blazing World' by Margaret Cavendish
Lady Duchess Empress Margaret Cavendish, this "Blazing World" of yours fascinates and enchants, yet perplexes and frustrates me.
'The Blazing World', the first science fiction novel written by a woman. Arguable the first science fiction novel period, brought to us in 1666.
I am mixed and betwixt about it: It is fifty or so pages long, yet the writing is very dense, the small print not helping; the writing itself is terrible - complicated grammar with no editing, the beginning has no plot and is all tell and no show; it's about science questions from our protagonist, the kidnapped earth Lady-turned-Empress of the Blazing World, and the scientific, theoretical and fantastical answers from her animal-hybrid subjects of said world; the novella starts off rushed and rubbish yet annoyingly slow, before finally there is some action involving souls and spirits, and a Duchess of Newcastle who becomes "Platonik lovers" and dear friends with the Empress, and a war and conquering in our world; the story (such as it can be called that) contains so many interesting concepts and ideas - about science, theory, debate, discovery, limitless knowledge, human nature, politics, religion, building a utopia, and most beautiful for all times, the power of female companionship, love, and female leaders.
The female protagonist in the first science fiction is a Lady in distress, then an Empress of her own world, then a goddess of both worlds and beyond. She is curious, inquisitive, witty, learned, sensitive, assertive, and fierce. She is like Boudica, and is likened to an angel, a devil, a princess, and a queen.
The Empress is also highly respected; no question whatsoever is made of her rule and decision making, based on her being a woman. However, that she may have turned ruthless, conquering, single-minded tyrant - fires and suns and stars blazing - at the end, seemed to have been lost on the author. Nevertheless, the Empress remains smart, fearless, cooperative, and admirable.
'The Blazing World' also talks about the concept of creating our own worlds, in our minds, and in corporal reality, and how this can be achieved, and what there is to consider in this endeavour to lovingly nourish a utopia. Margaret Cavendish, as well as not hiding the fact that the Empress and the Duchess, both nameless (though nobody is named here), are her self-insert avatars, also admits to wanting to create this, her Blazing World, among other worlds suited to her idea of perfection, in her writing - an outlet for her fruitful imagination and education. How very meta for her time.
This kind of creativity and forethought is what enchants me most about this bizarre piece of literature. For it is about creating new, ideal worlds, and how blurred the lines are between reality and fiction. In a cosmic way, 'The Blazing World' is about every writer's dream.
Thoroughly, it represents what science fiction is and is supposed to be.
So I shall keep this monumental tome of history - of science fiction and feminism. Bad writing aside, it is revolutionary in forms that are as many as there are stars and jewels (there are plenty of descriptions of pretty stones as well). It could be about anything, and everything.
(It might be better enjoyed skimming than tediously reading through.)
Final Score: 3/5
'The Blazing World', the first science fiction novel written by a woman. Arguable the first science fiction novel period, brought to us in 1666.
I am mixed and betwixt about it: It is fifty or so pages long, yet the writing is very dense, the small print not helping; the writing itself is terrible - complicated grammar with no editing, the beginning has no plot and is all tell and no show; it's about science questions from our protagonist, the kidnapped earth Lady-turned-Empress of the Blazing World, and the scientific, theoretical and fantastical answers from her animal-hybrid subjects of said world; the novella starts off rushed and rubbish yet annoyingly slow, before finally there is some action involving souls and spirits, and a Duchess of Newcastle who becomes "Platonik lovers" and dear friends with the Empress, and a war and conquering in our world; the story (such as it can be called that) contains so many interesting concepts and ideas - about science, theory, debate, discovery, limitless knowledge, human nature, politics, religion, building a utopia, and most beautiful for all times, the power of female companionship, love, and female leaders.
The female protagonist in the first science fiction is a Lady in distress, then an Empress of her own world, then a goddess of both worlds and beyond. She is curious, inquisitive, witty, learned, sensitive, assertive, and fierce. She is like Boudica, and is likened to an angel, a devil, a princess, and a queen.
The Empress is also highly respected; no question whatsoever is made of her rule and decision making, based on her being a woman. However, that she may have turned ruthless, conquering, single-minded tyrant - fires and suns and stars blazing - at the end, seemed to have been lost on the author. Nevertheless, the Empress remains smart, fearless, cooperative, and admirable.
'The Blazing World' also talks about the concept of creating our own worlds, in our minds, and in corporal reality, and how this can be achieved, and what there is to consider in this endeavour to lovingly nourish a utopia. Margaret Cavendish, as well as not hiding the fact that the Empress and the Duchess, both nameless (though nobody is named here), are her self-insert avatars, also admits to wanting to create this, her Blazing World, among other worlds suited to her idea of perfection, in her writing - an outlet for her fruitful imagination and education. How very meta for her time.
This kind of creativity and forethought is what enchants me most about this bizarre piece of literature. For it is about creating new, ideal worlds, and how blurred the lines are between reality and fiction. In a cosmic way, 'The Blazing World' is about every writer's dream.
Thoroughly, it represents what science fiction is and is supposed to be.
So I shall keep this monumental tome of history - of science fiction and feminism. Bad writing aside, it is revolutionary in forms that are as many as there are stars and jewels (there are plenty of descriptions of pretty stones as well). It could be about anything, and everything.
Final Score: 3/5
Monday 18 March 2019
Scribble #91
Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. I think I'm one of those people who wear their heart under their sleeve, bulging and bloody and dripping and just as visible as a stain. As a vein. I don't think of it as a wound, just weak self-image and preservation. Open, honest, sensitive and carefree, but not quite there yet. The dripping has to stop, and the heart must be set free in order to heal.
Saturday 16 March 2019
Non-Fiction Book Review - 'Wishful Drinking' by Carrie Fisher
2023 EDIT: Taken from my 'The Princess Diarist' rereview:
Part of my 2023 book clear-up, I'm afraid. I'm being particularly picky about the autobiographies and memoirs I own (and in the case of Carrie Fisher, some of the reason for my clearing is my no longer being comfortable owning anything relating to 'Star Wars'). I don't like everything Fisher wrote[...] I also wonder how different it might have been if it had been published after Me Too.
RIP Carrie Fisher, you will always be missed.
Final Score (for 'The Princess Diarist' and 'Wishful Drinking'): 3.5/5
Original Review:
The first book I've read by Carrie Fisher, and it won't be the last.
'Wishful Drinking' is a funny, engaging, addictive (heh heh), sobering (heh heh) little memoir that can be consumed in a day. In between work breaks, even.
It really does read like Carrie is talking to a friend she's known for a long time, whom she is now spilling her secrets and life observations to; seemingly at random at first, but it makes the best sense towards the end of her confessions. The anecdotes are funny, often dark, unbelievable yet true. Reality IS more bizarre than in the movies.
It honestly feels like Carrie Fisher was a marvellous, friendly but no-bullshit woman - she of worldly experiences and celeb families - in spite of her problems (hey, who doesn't have those?). She is a pop culture icon for many reasons, one of them for mental health awareness.
It is an absolute travesty, almost unreal, that she had to die the way she did, and so soon. Celebrity deaths don't affect me normally, but hers in particular broke me in a way no other has; it is one of the thousands of relentless blows on humanity in the year of everybody's punishment, 2016.
Now in Carrie's name and memory, I will finally read some of what she has written when she was so alive it hurt. Who says that actors can't be good writers?
One racist remark aside - where she says that when her father married a Chinese lady, Betty Lin, he had been to Chinatown so often and had had so many face-lifts, that he started to look Asian, so he and Betty were like a matched set - the rest of her humour is fish-hook-line-and-sinker for the snark crowd.
Learn a little about Carries Fisher as a person in 'Wishful Drinking' (and about her beloved, hilarious mother, Debbie Reynolds). It is a re-readable feast; a book that is like a box of chocolates where each page is a varying treat for various tastes. From Carrie's times in rehab and with psychologists, it seems like honesty and humour is one of the best medicines.
Plus, regardless of how you were born, who your family is (Hollywood royalty or no), and how you live your life, isn't everyone to be perceived as a little crazy?
RIP, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
Final Score: 4/5
Part of my 2023 book clear-up, I'm afraid. I'm being particularly picky about the autobiographies and memoirs I own (and in the case of Carrie Fisher, some of the reason for my clearing is my no longer being comfortable owning anything relating to 'Star Wars'). I don't like everything Fisher wrote[...] I also wonder how different it might have been if it had been published after Me Too.
RIP Carrie Fisher, you will always be missed.
Final Score (for 'The Princess Diarist' and 'Wishful Drinking'): 3.5/5
Original Review:
The first book I've read by Carrie Fisher, and it won't be the last.
'Wishful Drinking' is a funny, engaging, addictive (heh heh), sobering (heh heh) little memoir that can be consumed in a day. In between work breaks, even.
It really does read like Carrie is talking to a friend she's known for a long time, whom she is now spilling her secrets and life observations to; seemingly at random at first, but it makes the best sense towards the end of her confessions. The anecdotes are funny, often dark, unbelievable yet true. Reality IS more bizarre than in the movies.
It honestly feels like Carrie Fisher was a marvellous, friendly but no-bullshit woman - she of worldly experiences and celeb families - in spite of her problems (hey, who doesn't have those?). She is a pop culture icon for many reasons, one of them for mental health awareness.
It is an absolute travesty, almost unreal, that she had to die the way she did, and so soon. Celebrity deaths don't affect me normally, but hers in particular broke me in a way no other has; it is one of the thousands of relentless blows on humanity in the year of everybody's punishment, 2016.
Now in Carrie's name and memory, I will finally read some of what she has written when she was so alive it hurt. Who says that actors can't be good writers?
One racist remark aside - where she says that when her father married a Chinese lady, Betty Lin, he had been to Chinatown so often and had had so many face-lifts, that he started to look Asian, so he and Betty were like a matched set - the rest of her humour is fish-hook-line-and-sinker for the snark crowd.
Learn a little about Carries Fisher as a person in 'Wishful Drinking' (and about her beloved, hilarious mother, Debbie Reynolds). It is a re-readable feast; a book that is like a box of chocolates where each page is a varying treat for various tastes. From Carrie's times in rehab and with psychologists, it seems like honesty and humour is one of the best medicines.
Plus, regardless of how you were born, who your family is (Hollywood royalty or no), and how you live your life, isn't everyone to be perceived as a little crazy?
RIP, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
Final Score: 4/5
Non-Fiction Book Review - 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Essays and Poems' by Audre Lorde
You need this in your life. Right now.
One of the most well-written, thought-provoking, passionate, solid and vital voices I have read in a long time. It is heavy reading, but trust me when I say that you will not want to miss a single word.
Every page of Audre Lorde's essays and poems is quotable. Everything collected in 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' speaks so many truths today, and they were written in the '70s and '80s. Lorde says go straight to hell with your angry black woman stereotype - something needs to be done now. To change the patriarchal white supremacist heterosexist classist system in America, never to return using a new name.
Because in reality, nothing much has changed since the '70s. Black people, queer people, women, black women and other women of colour are still widely being treated as second class citizens, and their lives are even put in danger in insidious, toxic, suffocating, barely-invisible ways, just for existing. Replace the guns that white cops use to kill black people in the 20th and 21st centuries with whips that were used on slaves: the system does keep finding ways to preserve itself.
We are not yet free.
We can't let this go on any further. Lasting progress must be made, for literally everyone's survival. Speak up, let your voice be heard. Use your anger - your passion for justice - to your advantage. For the white supremacist heterosexist classist patriarchy wants you to suffer and die whether you are passive and silent or not.
'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' talks about intersectional feminism - it's one of the first works to discuss it - and how feminism without it is self-defeating and helping the patriarchy. It goes into great detail the dangers of internalized misogyny, especially among black women, and how powerful and natural and goddess-like sisterhood is. It's a power for affecting change in society, so no wonder the patriarchy is scared to death of it and so will try everything to pit women against themselves; thus the origin of the myth that all women are natural enemies and rivals for one another, and hate each other as much as men do.
Lorde's essays are about women supporting women, as well as self-care, expressing emotions and the dangers of suppressing them, raising feminist sons, male fragility, white fragility or the "white guilt" excuse, undoing the patriarchal system without using its methods ('The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House'), among other topics.
Above all, 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' is about how important it is for humanity to work together, to love one another indiscriminately, healthily, in order to achieve universal freedom. No more class, race, sex, and sexuality divides, for everyone is equal.
While Audre Lorde doesn't mention trans people, and this is the only lacking feature in this collection, I appreciate that she mentions the Jewish community a couple of times. As a black lesbian mother of the '60s, '70s and 80's, every day was a dangerous risk for her, especially in speaking out in public, but she never gave up.
As brave and massively inspiring as Lorde was, she was only trying to survive in a society that hated her existence. She used her anger creatively, by writing poetry, essays and speeches. She will not be denied her freedom to exist in America.
Notable additions in Lorde's writing include: that narcissism doesn't come from self-love, but self-hatred. That is very interesting. That what is "erotic" is much more positive than we give it credit for (meditation, confidence and self-esteem in body, mind and spirit voila 'Women Who Run with the Wolves'). And that there is a difference between pain and suffering. There is much you can learn from this amazing, revolutionary, unapologetic black lesbian feminist.
If you have never heard of the late great Audre Lorde until now, read 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' as soon as possible. Decades later, it can still enrich and save lives. The essays could have been written yesterday, they are that timely.
Some of the fountains of quotes from this fantastic woman:
“There is a distinction I am beginning to make in my living between pain and suffering. Pain is an event, an experience that must be recognized, named and then used in some way in order for the experience to change, to be transformed into something else, strength or knowledge or action.
Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain. When I live through pain without recognizing it self-consciously, I rob myself of the power that can come from using that pain, the power to fuel some movement beyond it. I condemn myself to reliving that pain over and over and over whenever something close triggers it. And that is suffering, a seemingly inescapable cycle.”
“As women, we have come to distrust that power which rises from our deepest and nonrational knowledge. We have been warned against it all our lives by the male world, which values this depth of feeling enough to keep women around in order to exercise it in the service of men, but which fears this same depth too much to examine the possibility of it within themselves. So women are maintained at a distant/inferior position to be psychically milked, much the same way ants maintain colonies of aphids to provide a life-giving substance for their masters.”
“In a society where the good is defined in terms of profit rather than in terms of human need, there must always be some group of people who, through systematised oppression, can be made to feel surplus, to occupy the space of the dehumanised inferior.”
“I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language.
I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared" or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever.
Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it's personal. And the world won't end."
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.”
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
“Revolution is not a one time event.”
“Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.”
“Without community, there is no liberation.”
Read more to find out more. We all need the wisdom of Lorde's passionate, FEELING words.
Final Score: 5/5
One of the most well-written, thought-provoking, passionate, solid and vital voices I have read in a long time. It is heavy reading, but trust me when I say that you will not want to miss a single word.
Every page of Audre Lorde's essays and poems is quotable. Everything collected in 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' speaks so many truths today, and they were written in the '70s and '80s. Lorde says go straight to hell with your angry black woman stereotype - something needs to be done now. To change the patriarchal white supremacist heterosexist classist system in America, never to return using a new name.
Because in reality, nothing much has changed since the '70s. Black people, queer people, women, black women and other women of colour are still widely being treated as second class citizens, and their lives are even put in danger in insidious, toxic, suffocating, barely-invisible ways, just for existing. Replace the guns that white cops use to kill black people in the 20th and 21st centuries with whips that were used on slaves: the system does keep finding ways to preserve itself.
We are not yet free.
We can't let this go on any further. Lasting progress must be made, for literally everyone's survival. Speak up, let your voice be heard. Use your anger - your passion for justice - to your advantage. For the white supremacist heterosexist classist patriarchy wants you to suffer and die whether you are passive and silent or not.
'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' talks about intersectional feminism - it's one of the first works to discuss it - and how feminism without it is self-defeating and helping the patriarchy. It goes into great detail the dangers of internalized misogyny, especially among black women, and how powerful and natural and goddess-like sisterhood is. It's a power for affecting change in society, so no wonder the patriarchy is scared to death of it and so will try everything to pit women against themselves; thus the origin of the myth that all women are natural enemies and rivals for one another, and hate each other as much as men do.
Lorde's essays are about women supporting women, as well as self-care, expressing emotions and the dangers of suppressing them, raising feminist sons, male fragility, white fragility or the "white guilt" excuse, undoing the patriarchal system without using its methods ('The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House'), among other topics.
Above all, 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' is about how important it is for humanity to work together, to love one another indiscriminately, healthily, in order to achieve universal freedom. No more class, race, sex, and sexuality divides, for everyone is equal.
While Audre Lorde doesn't mention trans people, and this is the only lacking feature in this collection, I appreciate that she mentions the Jewish community a couple of times. As a black lesbian mother of the '60s, '70s and 80's, every day was a dangerous risk for her, especially in speaking out in public, but she never gave up.
As brave and massively inspiring as Lorde was, she was only trying to survive in a society that hated her existence. She used her anger creatively, by writing poetry, essays and speeches. She will not be denied her freedom to exist in America.
Notable additions in Lorde's writing include: that narcissism doesn't come from self-love, but self-hatred. That is very interesting. That what is "erotic" is much more positive than we give it credit for (meditation, confidence and self-esteem in body, mind and spirit voila 'Women Who Run with the Wolves'). And that there is a difference between pain and suffering. There is much you can learn from this amazing, revolutionary, unapologetic black lesbian feminist.
If you have never heard of the late great Audre Lorde until now, read 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' as soon as possible. Decades later, it can still enrich and save lives. The essays could have been written yesterday, they are that timely.
Some of the fountains of quotes from this fantastic woman:
“There is a distinction I am beginning to make in my living between pain and suffering. Pain is an event, an experience that must be recognized, named and then used in some way in order for the experience to change, to be transformed into something else, strength or knowledge or action.
Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain. When I live through pain without recognizing it self-consciously, I rob myself of the power that can come from using that pain, the power to fuel some movement beyond it. I condemn myself to reliving that pain over and over and over whenever something close triggers it. And that is suffering, a seemingly inescapable cycle.”
“As women, we have come to distrust that power which rises from our deepest and nonrational knowledge. We have been warned against it all our lives by the male world, which values this depth of feeling enough to keep women around in order to exercise it in the service of men, but which fears this same depth too much to examine the possibility of it within themselves. So women are maintained at a distant/inferior position to be psychically milked, much the same way ants maintain colonies of aphids to provide a life-giving substance for their masters.”
“In a society where the good is defined in terms of profit rather than in terms of human need, there must always be some group of people who, through systematised oppression, can be made to feel surplus, to occupy the space of the dehumanised inferior.”
“I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language.
I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared" or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever.
Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it's personal. And the world won't end."
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.”
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
“Revolution is not a one time event.”
“Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.”
“Without community, there is no liberation.”
Read more to find out more. We all need the wisdom of Lorde's passionate, FEELING words.
Final Score: 5/5
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