From the onset of Heads of the Colored People, Dr. Nafissa Thompson-Spires grabbed my heart from my chest and never let go of it. Her brilliant phrasing, combined with characters so round and realized I felt I had stepped into their lives, took my breath away, held my eyes open, and kept my hands from putting this book down. If you are so lucky as to read this book, you’ll find yourself caring deeply, laughing, relating (the DMV setting was universally accurate!), and crying, and sometimes walking that hard pull between simultaneous amusement and sadness (such as when office-mates’ petty struggle over a light switch is juxtaposed against the heart wrenching constraints a Black man feels interacting with a university of women, or when a mom launches an eviscerating quip-fest with another mom instead of seeking to bond over their many commonalities). This book is a stunning composition on humanity and how we all long to find peace within ourselves and within a world that chokes us with prewritten narratives. Everyone should read this collection of beautiful and poignant stories.