What do you think?
Rate this book
We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape
The New York Times bestselling author of Rest Is Resistance guides us on a discovery of how to escape from grind culture, wherever we can find it. The systems will never give us rest � it is something we must create for ourselves and each other. We don’t believe we are worthy of rest unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Our thinking has been limited by disconnection, sleep deprivation and the unattainable call for perfection. From visionary artist and founder of The Nap Ministry Tricia Hersey invites us to imagine a world where we subvert the narrative of productivity at all costs, and the lies of capitalism and white supremacy on which it is built, to recognize the innate divinity in all of us. Inspired by vintage hymnals, prayer books, and abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! is a contemporary take on a sacred object and a liberation manual providing intimate wayfinding to those searching for rest and care. Tricia Hersey weaves together poetry, storytelling, powerful illustrations and resistance wisdom to provoke the creation of refusal strategies and trickster rebellion in the face of worker exploitation and machine-like expectations. There is another way. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. We can just be. We are beautiful. We are enough. We are escape artists. We Will Rest!
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2024
42 people are currently reading
3,006 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
November 8, 2024
The book motivates you to slow down and rest, to avoid the hustle culture, to not let yourself be influenced by capitalism. But it does not provide with any practical solutions to avoid burn out. It felt repetitive and was not really helpful at finding ways to rest
December 26, 2024
No shade but this read like a book of affirmations that reiterated exactly what was in the last book.
I listened to the audiobook which could be a good approach for her sermon like delivery. But the illustrations in the physical copy may have changed my feelings more positively about the book. The repetition that was in Rest is Resistance is evident. It was like repetition mad libs.
If you're looking for more depth, analysis, or layered tactics than were in the last book Rest is Resistance you will probably be disappointed. There are some breathing techniques and visualization exercises, but real techniques around how to organize life, work, and community is what I was looking for last time and still find it missing here.
I listened to the audiobook which could be a good approach for her sermon like delivery. But the illustrations in the physical copy may have changed my feelings more positively about the book. The repetition that was in Rest is Resistance is evident. It was like repetition mad libs.
If you're looking for more depth, analysis, or layered tactics than were in the last book Rest is Resistance you will probably be disappointed. There are some breathing techniques and visualization exercises, but real techniques around how to organize life, work, and community is what I was looking for last time and still find it missing here.
December 22, 2024
[4.5 stars] A collection of art, affirmations, poetry, and prose on the spiritual and cultural necessity of rest and refusal. This book is really beautiful! It would make a great coffee table companion to Tricia Hersey’s previous Rest is Resistance manifesto. And similar to that one, I appreciate the clear politic of Black feminist maroonage woven throughout, something that isn’t commonly an aspect of other books on rest or self-care. Highly recommended for those in search of a morning meditation / contemplation read, readers of the personal development genre interested in deeper politicization, and anyone looking to build a practice of anti-capitalist refusal.
Publication Info: Little, Brown Spark / Hachette, November 2024
ŷ Challenge 2024: 57/48
Publication Info: Little, Brown Spark / Hachette, November 2024
ŷ Challenge 2024: 57/48
December 29, 2024
⭐️ 3.5 - I highly recommend treating this book as a meditation and a way to practice mindfulness. I was able to do the audiobook and with it only being an hour long, I was able to listen while laying down and closing my eyes while practicing my breath as well as while I was taking a hot shower while recovering from an illness. This author’s writing style is never my favorite but I think how I was able to consume her audiobook this time around made it a little more special.
November 11, 2024
The publication of this affirming manual and its beautiful illustrations is really good, at least for me. I finished it while reclining with my dog on the couch - I highly recommend readers of this important book do the same.
February 11, 2025
It's a beautiful piece of art and I wanted to get a copy for several of my activist friends.
I feel chronically trapped between- not just hustle culture and expenses but my own disabilities and competing needs from self, loved ones, community .. rest feels hedonistic. guilty.
And yet- especially today, 2025, we have a long fight ahead of us and need to remember the message beautifully illustrated in this short book.
I didn't know from the description that this was literally an artbook, not prose. "The art of..." did masterful work there. But I'm not fully sure I would have picked /this/ book over what I now know is the author's original that inspired it- if I knew both existed, and that feels worth 1* for me, even if not for others. But it's a solid, short book.
I feel chronically trapped between- not just hustle culture and expenses but my own disabilities and competing needs from self, loved ones, community .. rest feels hedonistic. guilty.
And yet- especially today, 2025, we have a long fight ahead of us and need to remember the message beautifully illustrated in this short book.
I didn't know from the description that this was literally an artbook, not prose. "The art of..." did masterful work there. But I'm not fully sure I would have picked /this/ book over what I now know is the author's original that inspired it- if I knew both existed, and that feels worth 1* for me, even if not for others. But it's a solid, short book.
November 23, 2024
Hell yeah
March 31, 2025
i have to nap every day to continue functioning normally. although i no longer drown myself in guilt over it, i wish i didn’t have to; i wish i was different. but this reframing of rest felt so loving, affirming, and meditative �
“We don’t believe we are worthy of anything unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. You can be free. You are free.�
i am free � !
“We don’t believe we are worthy of anything unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. You can be free. You are free.�
i am free � !
Read
December 11, 2024Beautiful and poetic meditation on rest. Inspiring and motivating. Urgent and strong message, yet soft and loving delivery. Already listening to it again. If you haven’t already read the authors first book or become familiar with her work, do that first. Thank you Tricia Hersey!
December 26, 2024
I’m such a fan of Tricia Hersey and her work. This book is an invitation, a how to guide, an inspiration, and more. She continues to invite us to subvert the predominant systems of this world and find another way. A way that includes resting, connecting, and just being in the world and with one another. A continual process and exercise I will be aspiring to for the rest of my life.
December 31, 2024
Such an easy read and powerfully points you back to the many gems and miracles that come from resting and napping.
February 14, 2025
Rest Against the Machine!
March 26, 2025
Poetry, prose, word art and devotionals. There was a little bit of everything in this book.
April 14, 2025
A short, powerful meditation on rest
January 9, 2025
Not a motivational format for me. Felt more like a bunch of random affirmations slapped together.
November 3, 2024
"It is your divine right to rest."
This book is a deep, cleansing breath for overworked, tired people. No one is going to save us, so the author has written a guided path towards your own wellness. With black history and breaking away from grind culture, this book will leave you in awe, inspired, and in peace.
This book is a deep, cleansing breath for overworked, tired people. No one is going to save us, so the author has written a guided path towards your own wellness. With black history and breaking away from grind culture, this book will leave you in awe, inspired, and in peace.
December 5, 2024
This beautiful book is not meant to be devoured in one sitting. I would recommend reading "Rest is Resistance" before this, as it provides a lot of context for what is so lovingly illustrated in these pages. I loved the graphics in this book because they perfectly intertwined with the idea that rest should not be so difficult. To have a book of illustrations to see what rest can look like is great. Specifically, after page 61 there are about 7 pages that each depict a woman moving towards a bed, slowly. That resonated with me a lot.
Furthermore, there are practical ways here to incorporate rest into your daily practice. Daydream, go for a walk, listen to nature, lay on a couch, and don't forget your divine right to exist without being overworked.
This came at the perfect time of year, and it will be a book of reference for years to come. Visually stunning and carefully crafted.
Furthermore, there are practical ways here to incorporate rest into your daily practice. Daydream, go for a walk, listen to nature, lay on a couch, and don't forget your divine right to exist without being overworked.
This came at the perfect time of year, and it will be a book of reference for years to come. Visually stunning and carefully crafted.
December 14, 2024
A collection of poems, meditations and drawings. The book is beautiful to look at it and I took away a few things to reflect on. However there are a lot of blank pages, it’s quite low on original content and is priced at nearly £20 (UK). Book 1 is excellent, this second book is more artistic and aiming for something different, which didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
January 11, 2025
“I will ruin all plans created without my consent about what my body can withstand.�
“I will never ignore the pleas from my body and Spirit to slow down.�
“Anyone in this culture who believes and feels they are enough right now has begun the escape artist transformation.�
I have read Tricia’s first book, Rest is Resistance, and I am big fan of the Nap Ministry. I appreciate the ways Tricia speaks about rest on her platforms with clarity and authority. My biggest takeaways from this short read are:
- Rest requires intention.
- Rest requires firm boundaries.
- Rest requires belief in one’s own inherent dignity.
- Rest requires listening � to one’s body and Spirit. To the world around us.
- Rest can happen when you want it to � we can always close our eyes.
I’ve been thinking a lot about rest the past few years, and I’m always struck by the slow and still things around me. In this book, Tricia mentions a moment in her childhood when she laid on grass and looked at a butterfly up close. She reflected that it felt like she was seeing hidden things. And I often feel that way when I slow down enough to notice the world around me � like it’s hidden in plan sight. Rest IS spiritual. My verse for this year of my life is Psalms 46:10 (NIV) - “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”� I pray that God would help me have even greater eyes to see Him and become a part of the stillness all around me.
“I will never ignore the pleas from my body and Spirit to slow down.�
“Anyone in this culture who believes and feels they are enough right now has begun the escape artist transformation.�
I have read Tricia’s first book, Rest is Resistance, and I am big fan of the Nap Ministry. I appreciate the ways Tricia speaks about rest on her platforms with clarity and authority. My biggest takeaways from this short read are:
- Rest requires intention.
- Rest requires firm boundaries.
- Rest requires belief in one’s own inherent dignity.
- Rest requires listening � to one’s body and Spirit. To the world around us.
- Rest can happen when you want it to � we can always close our eyes.
I’ve been thinking a lot about rest the past few years, and I’m always struck by the slow and still things around me. In this book, Tricia mentions a moment in her childhood when she laid on grass and looked at a butterfly up close. She reflected that it felt like she was seeing hidden things. And I often feel that way when I slow down enough to notice the world around me � like it’s hidden in plan sight. Rest IS spiritual. My verse for this year of my life is Psalms 46:10 (NIV) - “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”� I pray that God would help me have even greater eyes to see Him and become a part of the stillness all around me.
January 14, 2025
I loved Rest Is Resistance but this book feels incomplete - like the framework Tricia’s first book grounded readers in was established resolutely enough that this second volume lacked a substantive expansion of the first, and is thus hard to justify as a worthwhile read.
I believe Rest Is Resistance was unfairly critiqued for its repetition, which Tricia has written about as being an intentional element of deprogramming. Her counterargument is how I felt reading it before even coming across her discussion of it as a strategic writing style because I felt it working on me. Rest Is Resistance continues to be such a balm for my own programming & inability to relax into my body and I believe that repetition, alongside some of the other critiqued stylistic choices of its overall arc, are necessary to go deeper. They’re a meditation unto themselves.
At its best, I felt that same magick while reading We Will Rest - but nowhere close as consistently. I was surprised by how quickly this book was published after Rest Is Resistance and I think that not only could it have used further simmering before publication, there isn’t much contained within it that you can’t access in Rest Is Resistance, which I’d recommend both new readers as well as those familiar with The Nap Ministry to read instead.
I believe Rest Is Resistance was unfairly critiqued for its repetition, which Tricia has written about as being an intentional element of deprogramming. Her counterargument is how I felt reading it before even coming across her discussion of it as a strategic writing style because I felt it working on me. Rest Is Resistance continues to be such a balm for my own programming & inability to relax into my body and I believe that repetition, alongside some of the other critiqued stylistic choices of its overall arc, are necessary to go deeper. They’re a meditation unto themselves.
At its best, I felt that same magick while reading We Will Rest - but nowhere close as consistently. I was surprised by how quickly this book was published after Rest Is Resistance and I think that not only could it have used further simmering before publication, there isn’t much contained within it that you can’t access in Rest Is Resistance, which I’d recommend both new readers as well as those familiar with The Nap Ministry to read instead.
February 13, 2025
This book is beautiful art inside and out. Tricia Hersey continues to reiterate and repeat the mantra that we must rest. It sounds simple to do but her constant reminder of how we’re all cogs in grind culture makes it’s really difficult to disassociate. I read this book slowly over weeks to absorb and process and meditate. I recommend this and her first work, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto. If you’re interested in learning how and why you’re trapped in grind culture and white supremacy and what actions to take to get out of it, both of her works will set you on that path. It’s a slow unwind. She shares some of her story poetically in We Will Rest. She also shares history, illustrations, mantras and poetry. It’s artistically beautiful and a warm and calming read.
December 22, 2024
Ms. Hershey’s first book Rest is a resistance became a liberation tool for me. I began napping, making time to dream and spreading the gospel of rest on my blog. However, her 2nd book We Will Rest� is more of a poetic birthing for Ms. Hersey than a follow up. The imagery both in visual and storytelling is quite suitable for her message. However, some of the messages written in this book I found to be less soft and triggering (young and razor blade.. .. ouch).
I appreciate the nod to heritage and history, it definitely has its place in literature. Blending tough history with rest and softness may be difficult for some.
Three stars for creativity for sure. 👍🏾
I appreciate the nod to heritage and history, it definitely has its place in literature. Blending tough history with rest and softness may be difficult for some.
Three stars for creativity for sure. 👍🏾
January 4, 2025
I love this short and pithy book, hitting hard and more pointed the concepts presented in "Rest is Resistance."
"Inspired by vintage hymnals, prayer books, and abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! is a modern sacred object, medicine for a sick and exhausted world. Weaving together meditations and poetry with storytelling and powerful art, Hersey provokes liberation through refusal and trickster rebellion in the face of capitalism and white supremacy." From:
I'm going to gift to this peeps.
V
"Inspired by vintage hymnals, prayer books, and abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! is a modern sacred object, medicine for a sick and exhausted world. Weaving together meditations and poetry with storytelling and powerful art, Hersey provokes liberation through refusal and trickster rebellion in the face of capitalism and white supremacy." From:
I'm going to gift to this peeps.
V
March 3, 2025
It was fine. In the current dumpster fire in which we're living, this seemed like a good read and carried more weight than it would have if I read it a year or two ago. But, it didn't really have anything that profound in it, and I didn't think that the style was that effective. It read like a Tumblr blog. A listicles that was broken up across sections, some short quotes, and a few musings (in poetic structure), then rinse and repeat.
Thanks LibroFM and the publisher for the ALC.
Thanks LibroFM and the publisher for the ALC.
March 6, 2025
This book is a nice summation of her previous work, but filled with short practices, art, mantras and poetry. It felt like it incorporated some of the joy of the rest deck she created. Although a tad repetitive, the reminders are the way to break that cycle of grind culture and internalize what rest and freedom mean to you. I liked the format and appreciate this work deeply as I try to break from the pattern of capitalism that continues daily to try to break my soul.
November 23, 2024
"I have claimed myself as an escape artist. My early days experimenting with rest came quickly as the whispering yell of my body lit a path. This is a meditation on how I escaped grind culture. How I built a home by laying down and slowing down and daydreaming in my own community and in my own heart. My deliverance out of grind culture is a spark for my soul."
January 15, 2025
After a recommendation in Chanequa Walker-Barnes' incredible Spiritual Self Care, I got this from the library. I could have easily read it in one sitting, but I split it into two. It's a verbal and visual manifesto, and it's so well done and just so good.
March 1, 2025
I went into this book expecting something along the lines of Hersey's last book, and it's totally different. The concept is very cool, but it didn't really resonate for me. Possibly because I went in with very different expectations. But I can see this really landing for the right person.
March 11, 2025
A powerful companion to Rest is Resistance. A beautiful object and piece of art in itself.
Helpful to read during times of fatigue and exhaustion for powerful invitations and reminders.
Includes poetry, illustrations, short vignettes.
A beautiful give to self or loved ones.
Helpful to read during times of fatigue and exhaustion for powerful invitations and reminders.
Includes poetry, illustrations, short vignettes.
A beautiful give to self or loved ones.
April 3, 2025
Adult
Nonfiction
Philosophy/ self-help
This is a lovely and important little book that reminds us of how important it is to rest, not only for our own well-being but for the well-being of others and the world.
This little book felt like a warm, validating hug for me.
Nonfiction
Philosophy/ self-help
This is a lovely and important little book that reminds us of how important it is to rest, not only for our own well-being but for the well-being of others and the world.
This little book felt like a warm, validating hug for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.