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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
This book of essays ranged from ones that were so powerful I had chills and others that were so deeply personal about her body and sex life that they teetered on TMI. Overall a strong book.
3.5 rounded up - some of the essays were definite 5's, some were just not, and a lot of times the connections within them felt like it could have used another visit with the editor to clean a little more.
Overall quite provocative, and I'm trying to take the advice within of just listening rather than trying to inject myself and my feelings into the middle of my reading (both as a white woman, and as someone well, well past the age when Jerkins wrote these essays, my perspective is entirely different and not the point).
There are pieces I'll be thinking over for a long while. (And parts I will aim to forget mercifully quickly.) This is the second audiobook that's a collection of personal essays read by the authors in a row for me, and I do appreciate getting to hear the author's words conveyed in the way they intend, it does add something to the reading.
Overall quite provocative, and I'm trying to take the advice within of just listening rather than trying to inject myself and my feelings into the middle of my reading (both as a white woman, and as someone well, well past the age when Jerkins wrote these essays, my perspective is entirely different and not the point).
There are pieces I'll be thinking over for a long while. (And parts I will aim to forget mercifully quickly.) This is the second audiobook that's a collection of personal essays read by the authors in a row for me, and I do appreciate getting to hear the author's words conveyed in the way they intend, it does add something to the reading.
I like the conversations that were had however personally they weren’t conversations I wasn’t aware of before. I wish this would have dwelled more into some topics. This is very good for people unfamiliar with the story. Read like
It was written for the white gaze.
I did enjoy this for what it was. I would recommend this for anyone new to the concept of feminism.
It was written for the white gaze.
I did enjoy this for what it was. I would recommend this for anyone new to the concept of feminism.
This was an interesting book for me; as a person of colour (Asian), I've never seen life through the lens of a black girl growing up in the East Coast, wrestling for people to see and hear her as an equal. This is by no means a comprehensive (or even close) review of the book, just my thoughts here and there.
I am quite conflicted about this book. On one hand, I really liked some of the things in there, like "Human, Not Black" where she explored the sense of anonymity being in a foreign country brings, but on the other hand I felt like there were a lot of generalisation and glossing-over of what are highly complex concepts and a dynamic group of people.
To me, there were golden windows of opportunities in which Jerkins could have been more introspective and provide a more comprehensive picture of, for example, why in her opinion she "cannot just label herself as human instead of black". I perked up during that exchange because it was a question I hadn't realised have shelved to the back of my mind from long ago. I was disappointed that I got so little out of it. It seemed to me her defense mechanism sprang up and instead of rationally exploring the question and its possibilities, she resolved to politics-speak (ie. emotionally charged) and jabbed at them, as if that will drive home the message clearer. It didn't.
At some points Jerkins was a tad bit dramatic and whiny, bordering self-entitled - see the chapter where she spent a page or two where she 1. displayed thinly-veiled contempt at black women of lower socioeconomic status as her, 2. experienced rejection after rejection as a fresh graduate 'despite coming from an ivy-league uni', and 3. detailed how seasoned writers ought to share the limelight by helping newbies and propel them upwards, 'for the good of their people'. To me her writing gave me the impression that her worldview is rather narrow - of how /only/ black women are prone to (sexual) assault and white/nonblack women are either protected or impervious to such come-ons is a rather cruel sweeping observation that sounds very much biased. But then again that is the point of this book, even if inaccurate, Jerkins deserve to present her worldview, true or not, it is to her.
The book had potential to mature; she has potential to mature. At every point in the book I felt like she is still not her own person - yes she is an accomplished writer, but she has not yet found her identity or has yet to ground herself in this world. It felt like she is still bound by familial/cultural expectations and who she is is not based on her as an individual but who she thinks an individual of a certain community ought to be. Perhaps a decade from now, after heartbreaks, lost love(s), and more trials and tribulations her worldview will be much more anticipated.
I am quite conflicted about this book. On one hand, I really liked some of the things in there, like "Human, Not Black" where she explored the sense of anonymity being in a foreign country brings, but on the other hand I felt like there were a lot of generalisation and glossing-over of what are highly complex concepts and a dynamic group of people.
To me, there were golden windows of opportunities in which Jerkins could have been more introspective and provide a more comprehensive picture of, for example, why in her opinion she "cannot just label herself as human instead of black". I perked up during that exchange because it was a question I hadn't realised have shelved to the back of my mind from long ago. I was disappointed that I got so little out of it. It seemed to me her defense mechanism sprang up and instead of rationally exploring the question and its possibilities, she resolved to politics-speak (ie. emotionally charged) and jabbed at them, as if that will drive home the message clearer. It didn't.
At some points Jerkins was a tad bit dramatic and whiny, bordering self-entitled - see the chapter where she spent a page or two where she 1. displayed thinly-veiled contempt at black women of lower socioeconomic status as her, 2. experienced rejection after rejection as a fresh graduate 'despite coming from an ivy-league uni', and 3. detailed how seasoned writers ought to share the limelight by helping newbies and propel them upwards, 'for the good of their people'. To me her writing gave me the impression that her worldview is rather narrow - of how /only/ black women are prone to (sexual) assault and white/nonblack women are either protected or impervious to such come-ons is a rather cruel sweeping observation that sounds very much biased. But then again that is the point of this book, even if inaccurate, Jerkins deserve to present her worldview, true or not, it is to her.
The book had potential to mature; she has potential to mature. At every point in the book I felt like she is still not her own person - yes she is an accomplished writer, but she has not yet found her identity or has yet to ground herself in this world. It felt like she is still bound by familial/cultural expectations and who she is is not based on her as an individual but who she thinks an individual of a certain community ought to be. Perhaps a decade from now, after heartbreaks, lost love(s), and more trials and tribulations her worldview will be much more anticipated.
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.