emmacb's reviews
176 reviews

This book rescues itself in the last 50-100 pages in a way that almost made me give it 4 stars. However, then I remembered that I only made it through the first part because I was stuck on a train with delays, and also wanted to pass the book onto a friend so we could discuss it. For most of the book, I did not warm to Kristin or 'Kristin-adjacent' at all. I found her self-centred, shallow and at times a little racist/sexist/all-round judgemental - there were various little asides that made me wince a bit.
However, she does learn and I finished the book with a smile. Which, I suppose is the point of this book in the first place - her journey through travelling to becoming the person she wanted to be.

This book made me cry in public. Three times. The only bit that put me off a little was slightly ethically dodgy moment of what basically adds up to excusing an attempted rape with the third person. However, I can acknowledge that the opinions voiced by that third person are probably consistent with how the incident would have been viewed in her time, and since the title character is appropriately indignant it did not entirely overshadow the story for me!
Overall, a beautiful story which takes a rich dive into the lives of its characters, especially the main character Eddie, and shows off the invisible connections between different lives.

Cute. Spotted this on a friend's bookshelf and finally caught up on a cartoon I see referenced all over the place!

A beautifully written book about a terrible experience. Northup's words manage to portray many of the horrors of slavery as much through what he doesn't say as what he does - he doesn't dwell on emotional descriptions of his labour, or of the abuses he both endured and witnessed, and this matter-of-fact tone only stands to make the awfulness even plainer. His acknowledgement that, whilst he had a happy ending, so many others in his situation didn't is completely heartbreaking.
This book also shows me how much more I have to learn about American history by drawing attention to issues and injustices I hadn't heard of before.

This is a terrible but beautiful story. The book aimed at a younger audience, but the eloquent simplicity with which the story is told also helps drive home the youth of Omar, the narrator. I also love the attention paid to other characters, resulting in a rich emotional landscape even outside of the central character and his family.

The beginning of this book is incredible. Akala makes so many excellent points so well I felt like I was highlighting every other sentence on my Kindle! I felt the book slightly lost focus towards the end but it was still a good read and it may have just been me losing focus, since I moved countries in-between! Either way, the book has taught me a lot and given me plenty of ideas on where to go next in my reading. It makes very clear the gaps in our education system and in my personal education, especially in regards to black history and Britain's imperial history and hypocrisies.

As this book is 3 years old, it's also a sad but necessary demonstration of how needed the BLM movement is - all of the problems and frustrations described in the book are still around today.

This book read like a fairy tale or an old legend, which was fairly clearly the intent of the author. I really liked the idea of the world and all that's in it conspiring to help you achieve your 'destiny,' and how all the speed bumps along the way are actually an essential part of helping you reach your goal. I thought the book was an interesting, if a little romanticised/simplified look at how humans interact with the world and finished it feeling very peaceful and somehow optimistic.
There was also a small interview with the author I'm the back of the book - he sounds like a really interesting guy, and I would love to read a few more of his books.

I love the concept of this book. Rather than trying to definitively give a meaning for for feminism, it instead shares a variety of reflections, ideas and personal experiences showing how different women from different backgrounds have experienced feminism and what it means to them. You don't have to agree with everything you read in this book - it actively encourages you to consider how other women see things, and celebrates the diversity of thought that results.

My only personal complaint would be that a few of the contributions felt more like an advert for a given project/charity. However, for these women those projects are a huge part of how they have experienced feminism so perhaps that's fair enough, besides which these projects do incredibly important work and this book might introduce them to someone who needs them!