I'm not sure what I can say about this book that hasn't already been said! Apparently many people have read this as more of a complaint against white people than as a letter to his son. For me, since he wrote it as a letter to his son, that's what it is; it's just that we are allowed to read it as well. Personally, his style of writing is not my favorite as it is somewhat stream of consciousness and very poetic. Because it is so poetic, there were times when I thought, "Wow, what a beautiful way to say that" and other times it just felt overly wordy and, well, poetic.

I know many people will say that Mr. Coates is angry. I'm sure he is, but not without reason and this book explains his reasons. Just because his story is different from your story or my story, doesn't make it a less legitimate story. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about "the danger of a single story". Each of us has a different story and we need to learn to listen to each other's stories and to try to see life from their point of view. As Mr. Coates says to his son, we need to be conscious of what life is like for others.

Mr. Coates is an atheist. He says he is not hopeless, but he doesn't offer a lot of hope for change in the book and does come across as hopeless. Again, read his story and understand why. But I also think there is hope if each of us learns to listen and to try to feel what others feel, to see what they see, to hear what they hear.

Douglas Kaine McKelvey writes in Every Moment Holy in "A Liturgy Before Beginning a Book": "So let the honest responses of my heart to this reading grant new insight into the story your grace is already telling in my own life that I might be a more willing co-laborer in that process." I recommend reading this book, listening to Mr. Coates' story, and discerning how to be a co-laborer in the process of race relations in this country. It may not be in the way Mr. Coates would recommend, but his story reveals that there is much work to do. Just be open to learn.