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428 reviews for:
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Morgan Jerkins
4.02 AVERAGE
428 reviews for:
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Morgan Jerkins
4.02 AVERAGE
So glad I got around to this essay collection. Some of them are extremely powerful, well thought out, 5 stars would be an injustice as they deserve more. In other areas I wish she had probed the relationship she had growing up with her immediate family. There's stuff to be mined there. She's definitely a writer I will look out for more from and I look forward to reading more by her. I learned so much from this collection.
This was an awesome and EMPOWERING read! I was especially empowered reading Chapter 9 (“How to Survive: A Manifesto on Paranoia and Peace”). I don’t do spoken word, but I read this entire chapter out LOUD to myself, as if I was doing spoken word. I didn’t start out reading it out loud, but by the time I got to the 2nd affirmation I stopped and mentally told myself, “GIRL, you have to SPEAK this to yourself!” I read the chapter out loud and felt every one of those affirmations SIT in my mind, body, heart, and soul...and I was RICHLY empowered to BE every bit of the black woman that God made me to be. Morgan Jerkins, thank you for this awesome read, but I thank you MOST for Chapter 9,
First listened to it as an audio book after the recommendation of a friend, and I plan on re-reading it in paperback this year. Beautifully written, insightful, and thought-provoking. Highly recommend.
Okay. First of all, not every essay in this collection is going to be for white women. None of it is really for us, but some are more easily appreciated, like the beautiful "A Lotus for Michelle," reminding us of the strength and dignity displayed by the First Lady in the face of personal attacks. There is a passage in which Jerkins discusses this, and it was helpful to me in understanding why I could read books like this book and others (like Coates' "Between the World and Me") and appreciate the writing while still feeling somewhat outside of it. There are lived experiences here that I will simply never understand. I may catch a glimmer, but just because I've read some essays by a Black woman doesn't mean that I now understand her, or any other Black Woman, fully.
So why do I like this book so much? Because Jerkins writes with passion and clarity. Because I did learn from this book, and it gave me a longing to see more of what Black Women have to bring to the table of feminism, of literature, of politics, of education. One of my favorite podcasters sometimes has a segment called "Say this, not that." "This Will Be My Undoing" was in many ways an ongoing education into what to say or not say. Mostly, though, it is the story of a woman, a Black Woman, a particular Black Woman, and how she has moved through life so far, what she has learned about her body, her relationships, her connection as a part of something larger. Jerkins invites us in as she wrestles with complexity, and I am grateful for the invitation.
So why do I like this book so much? Because Jerkins writes with passion and clarity. Because I did learn from this book, and it gave me a longing to see more of what Black Women have to bring to the table of feminism, of literature, of politics, of education. One of my favorite podcasters sometimes has a segment called "Say this, not that." "This Will Be My Undoing" was in many ways an ongoing education into what to say or not say. Mostly, though, it is the story of a woman, a Black Woman, a particular Black Woman, and how she has moved through life so far, what she has learned about her body, her relationships, her connection as a part of something larger. Jerkins invites us in as she wrestles with complexity, and I am grateful for the invitation.
I am a white middle aged woman, and I loved this book! I found it eye opening, heartbreaking, challenging and wonderful. I hope Jerkins writes more so I can read and learn from her. Based on Jerkins experiences growing up in NJ, going to Princeton, studying abroad, living in NYC at times her experiences are universal, and at times not at all, and unique only because she is black - this is where the heart break is. We must treat and respect women regards of race and national origin. This is going to be a book I highly recommend to others.
A bonus is that she reads the audio book and I highly recommend the audio book - I found myself wishing I could engage her in conversation.
A bonus is that she reads the audio book and I highly recommend the audio book - I found myself wishing I could engage her in conversation.
This started out great and then was just about average by the time I reached the end. Perhaps this is just due to my familiarity -- it seemed like this was stuff I'd already read before several times and I wanted something different, some nuance or angle that went deeper. Nonetheless, an interesting and quick read.
The first half of this book is well thought out and presents an experience different than what I’ve read several times over. Jerkins focuses on colorism from the perspective of a light skinned Black woman and how dark skin Black women treated her growing up. She ventures into wanting to belong to the Sisterhood, please her parents, find a man, etc and it falls off into something that reads more like journaling than sharing to inspire vulnerability and growth. I’m interested in reading more of what she has written but not fully confident in what I will get.
Reading this book made me privy to the most interesting conversation about race and feminism that I would have no business being part of the conversation otherwise or asking some of the questions that have been answered for me here. There are some shared experiences among all women, and on some level I can relate to identity-related discrimination. It’s not (anywhere near) the same, it’s a hint of a shared feeling.