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4.5 stars

I read about 40 pages of this back in September for Diverseathon, but for some reason, I really couldn't get into it then. Maybe it was that I should've have forced myself to read it in such a quick amount of time, because this story definitely warrants taking your time and digesting what it's trying to say. I continually put this off after that, citing that I was bored and didn't want to continue reading if it was going to be something painstaking.

However, I brought this book home with me for Easter break, wanting to reduce the ridiculous amount of things on my "currently reading" pile. I began to pick this up from where I left off, recalling that the last essay/poem I had read was really long and rough to get through, but I told myself that a fresh start would be my motivation to see this with fresh eyes. And i'm so happy I did.

This book is gorgeous. It's half educational, half eye-opening. I was devastated reading this, and constantly impressed with the quality of the writing, the one-liners, and the depth of emotion to this. The first time I read this, I must not have been in the right state of mind, because this punched me in the gut the second time. I loved almost every single page, and the art and photography interspersed just made it that much more tragic.

My only complaint is that sometimes Rankine's writing gravitates toward being overly wordy. Several pieces exclude punctuation, which is a stylistic choice many may enjoy, but I'm not a fan and find myself unable to follow easily. Additionally, many longer pieces can lose me in the wordy explanations and long sentences, so I found myself preferring her shorter pieces, even though all presented well-thought out and poignant ideas.

This must be required reading. It's the reminder for allies to do better and always speak up, and I'm so glad I read it.