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441 reviews for:
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Morgan Jerkins
4.03 AVERAGE
441 reviews for:
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Morgan Jerkins
4.03 AVERAGE
Review to come in the LA Times, but <3 <3 <3 basically.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
This was painful to read. Not because it opened my eyes or changed my perspective, but because it was a collection of angry, disjointed rants by an author more eager to shock* than inform. The repeated theme can be summed up with these two quotes:
"Somehow all my achievements that I had worked so hard to accrue seemed to be steadily whittling away my dating prospects."
"What is it about our goals that leads to our stigmatization? Is it because there is a deep-seated fear black women will outpace black men, and the only way to remind us of our place is to withhold love and affection?"
* One whole chapter describes - in explicit detail - what particular porn she prefers when masturbating. Another chapter is dedicated - again, in explicit detail - to her labia.
"Somehow all my achievements that I had worked so hard to accrue seemed to be steadily whittling away my dating prospects."
"What is it about our goals that leads to our stigmatization? Is it because there is a deep-seated fear black women will outpace black men, and the only way to remind us of our place is to withhold love and affection?"
* One whole chapter describes - in explicit detail - what particular porn she prefers when masturbating. Another chapter is dedicated - again, in explicit detail - to her labia.
emotional
informative
reflective
This book was a great and quick read. It's wonderful to read someone like you articulate feelings that you might not have been able to articulate yourself. I felt like Morgan and I are similar in a lot of ways and the fact that she wrote a book at the same age as me is inspiring. I thought that it was great and very important that Morgan talked about a black woman's space and how that it is important to establish that space. This book was not only interesting but engaging. I learned a lot by reading this book and I would recommend it to other black women to read as well.
This series of essays were at times way too personal for my taste. I was looking for a feminist manifesto, but the essays about her masturbatory preference and the necessity for her to undergo a labiaplasty are what I will remember about this one, not its social commentary.
there were essays from this collection that were, for me as a white woman, very important to read. there were also other essays that were very clearly not meant for me, which was just as important. but regardless this is a beautifully vulnerable collection that demands to be read because it needs to be read by people from all walks of life.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Where this book stands out from other discussions of black womanhood is how completely it centers black women. In doing so, Jerkins steps into more controversial territory, leading to a highly engaging book. Rather than focusing entirely on white people as the source of black women's pain, she reclaims the agency of black women through essays on mother-daughter misogynoir, her feelings of misogynoir against a classmate, and her early denial of her own black girlhood. She takes the exceptionalism of black women to its edge in one of the later essays, stating "when we are specifically talking about black women's experiences, the magnifying glass need no move to any other melanin-rich subject."
I tried reading a physical copy of this sometime last year and just couldn't get through it. I think I only read two - maybe three - essays. I found the writing style lacking, and I found many of the essays somewhat disjointed and in need of (sharper) editing.
But I've seen a lot of positive reviews of this collection - many writers/readers who I respect praised this collection, so I'd been thinking about giving it another go. I picked up the audiobook version, and it went down much better. However, to me, this essay collection/memoir does still appear to be lacking in some major ways, unfortunately.
But I've seen a lot of positive reviews of this collection - many writers/readers who I respect praised this collection, so I'd been thinking about giving it another go. I picked up the audiobook version, and it went down much better. However, to me, this essay collection/memoir does still appear to be lacking in some major ways, unfortunately.