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A review by nerdese
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins
4.0
3.75/5
Morgan is a seriously gifted writer. On a sentence-by-sentence level, this book just sings. And she REALLY goes for it in this collection of essays. She writes more honestly about sex/relationships, religion, and black girlhood than just about any writer I've encountered. As other reviews have praised, I really love how this book WASN'T "one size fits all" and made to appease the wide (mostly white) readership. Morgan's words and thoughts can speak to everyone, but they're not FOR everyone. That's a bold choice, and it totally pays off. My main qualm with these essays is the balance of the academic vs. the more memoir-oriented, anecdotal voice/content. I found Morgan's voice really shone when she was deep in her personal stories, her memories, the family stories, the stories from high school, her grappling with loneliness, body issues, and fear. While there aren't many missteps in her actual arguments, I found some of the essays did feel overly academic/distant? But overall, this is super readable, really incredible first collection of a writer who is one to watch.
In her own prophetic words, you should have known she was coming.
Morgan is a seriously gifted writer. On a sentence-by-sentence level, this book just sings. And she REALLY goes for it in this collection of essays. She writes more honestly about sex/relationships, religion, and black girlhood than just about any writer I've encountered. As other reviews have praised, I really love how this book WASN'T "one size fits all" and made to appease the wide (mostly white) readership. Morgan's words and thoughts can speak to everyone, but they're not FOR everyone. That's a bold choice, and it totally pays off. My main qualm with these essays is the balance of the academic vs. the more memoir-oriented, anecdotal voice/content. I found Morgan's voice really shone when she was deep in her personal stories, her memories, the family stories, the stories from high school, her grappling with loneliness, body issues, and fear. While there aren't many missteps in her actual arguments, I found some of the essays did feel overly academic/distant? But overall, this is super readable, really incredible first collection of a writer who is one to watch.
In her own prophetic words, you should have known she was coming.