jaduhluhdabooks's Reviews (333)

Yeah. Ms. Hibbert don’t be missing. This book is laugh so hard you frighten people in public funny. I mean. I ADORE, Celine and Brad. A. DORE. 
Also the way that sis writes dynamics characters is just soooooo incredibly well done. The story and the person mix so well, you want to finish for the sake of the integrity of a fully developed character arc alone AND SOME. 

I also think I just love Black love that exist for the sake of Black love. The references to culture and the subtle tributes to Blackness and the joy and magic found in being Black is such a gift to see displayed in the pages of this book. Ugh, it was light and fun, intertwined with real and complex elements that aren’t hard to bite or require intense chewing; instead, you can see, consume, and allow them to develop your understanding of the characters and the plot without a lot of deep or critical thought, and it still significantly contribute to your learning and the style of the book in a healthy way. 

Yeah - it was GOOD GOOD.

Literal. Gut wrenching perfection. I mean. 

Tears were shed. Hearts were ripped. Screams were scrum. 

The WRITING alone was so melodic and I could NOT get enough of the stories being told simultaneously. It takes A LOT for a book to evoke emotional investment out of me, BUT A REACTION. LIKE. TEARS. LAUGHTER. SCREAMING…. Actually it doesn’t take thhhaatt much, but this book definitely pulled me in from the get go.

I mean, It’s a beautiful love story, from Constance and Scarlett, Scarlett and Jameson, Noah and Georgia, to Scarlett and William. It’s just so beautiful - and makes me want to sleep because I’m emotionally SPENT. 

Ugh ugh ugh. It’s like Book Lovers but on steroids.

Alright. I am back to write this review mostly because it was such a transformative book for me, I needed time to process the words that summed up my experience. Gloria Watkins - bell hooks, is a phenomenal writer. I mean, the invitation alone to come and sit and feel as if you are speaking to her is a gift that not many writers posses and for that invite alone, I am thankful. 

As an aspiring academic, pursuing theory in the realm of race and feminist lens and contexts, this book was such a relief and an empowering composition. I also read this book pared with Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and it really hammered out the depth of Freire’s words, and offered critique for what he missed. Hooks including the narrative of Black women just released the anxiety I hold as a Black woman entering into a white male dominated field. Research and theory alone is some convulsed and the politics sway what is accepted at scholarly work and what is not. 

Hooks offered inspirational perspective and really ignited the flame for transformative teaching in me again. I have always believed in the power that education has to shift and to change, but this book was a breathing testimony that personhood has place, value, and depth in a learning environment. That experience shapes our understanding of the world and can lead to broader developments of truth in framework and theory. That our breathes and bodies hold weight and signal when and how we show up in a room, change will ensue or remain stagnant. 

Hooks just inspired the shit out of me for better lack of words and in going to be sitting in these words. These readings. This essay for what feels like the remainder of my very early academic career. Wishing I could sit at her kitchen table, surrounded by her yellow walls and drink tea with her, asking and learning from her. 

But I have her words and for that alone, I am grateful.