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A review by lilcookie
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins
3.0
After the first few chapters, I decided I was not a huge fan of this book or the writing style of Morgan Jenkins. While I recognized the brilliance that shone through "How To Be Docile" and "How To Survive", her discussion of #BlackGirlMagic and questioning the narratives of slavery for Black Americans, the delivery was sometimes off-putting and felt like a stream of consciousness rather than an organized essay (which is usually fine!). As a young Black woman, I was part of the target audience and still felt less than thrilled to be reading it when womanhood was reduced to having a vagina or I got lost in between paragraph breaks. Yet, I find myself bringing up many of the points raised in her writings in conversation organically - a sign her work resonated within my brain and inspired more critical analysis of Black womanhood and Blackness in my own life. For that reason, I'm glad the work was published and believe she does deserve recognition for its contribution.
Though I note and agree with many of the critiques of how Jenkins describes her problematic past attitudes, I appreciated her honesty. Not everyone is willing to admit thinking thoughts as negative and dark as she described, especially those that resulted from self-hatred, anti-blackness, misogynoir, misogyny and other undesirable feelings. It's raw and discomforting, to the point where I would agree that the inclusion of some of her emotions may not be productive. Still, it would've been quite easy to take a superior position without recognizing what one had to unlearn to get to this place and she made the choice to air her dirty laundry. That being said, she could've done a much better job prose-wise unpacking these attitudes and her own experiences in Japan throughout the collection to avoid furthering harm. Her other personal stories were generally impactful too, though again, the organization may have helped drive her conclusions home. Overall, I think Morgan Jenkins has things to say worth listening to, like when describing her experiences at Princeton and the paradox of benefitting from/contributing to exploitative institutions as a marginalized person. My concern is that she may lose readers in the process by obscuring her gems and promoting the rocks.
Though I note and agree with many of the critiques of how Jenkins describes her problematic past attitudes, I appreciated her honesty. Not everyone is willing to admit thinking thoughts as negative and dark as she described, especially those that resulted from self-hatred, anti-blackness, misogynoir, misogyny and other undesirable feelings. It's raw and discomforting, to the point where I would agree that the inclusion of some of her emotions may not be productive. Still, it would've been quite easy to take a superior position without recognizing what one had to unlearn to get to this place and she made the choice to air her dirty laundry. That being said, she could've done a much better job prose-wise unpacking these attitudes and her own experiences in Japan throughout the collection to avoid furthering harm. Her other personal stories were generally impactful too, though again, the organization may have helped drive her conclusions home. Overall, I think Morgan Jenkins has things to say worth listening to, like when describing her experiences at Princeton and the paradox of benefitting from/contributing to exploitative institutions as a marginalized person. My concern is that she may lose readers in the process by obscuring her gems and promoting the rocks.