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1.23k reviews by:
nuhafariha
Thank you to Button Poetry and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 25th 2020
What an honor it is to hold someone's vulnerability between your own brown hands, seeing their pain and growth and beauty unfold in front of you. "Crown Noble", the first full length poetry book from Bianca Phipps is all of that and more. From describing her strained relationship with her mother and the death of her father to the sacrifices made to get her to where she is today, Phipps imbues her work with grace and love. There is so much love in knowing what we can and cannot forgive,
Available Aug 25th 2020
What an honor it is to hold someone's vulnerability between your own brown hands, seeing their pain and growth and beauty unfold in front of you. "Crown Noble", the first full length poetry book from Bianca Phipps is all of that and more. From describing her strained relationship with her mother and the death of her father to the sacrifices made to get her to where she is today, Phipps imbues her work with grace and love. There is so much love in knowing what we can and cannot forgive,
Thanks to ABRAMS Publishing and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Jan 5 2021
Absolutely gorgeous. "After the Rain' is John Jennings and David Brame's comic book adaptation of the short story by science fiction writer Dr. Nnedi Okorafor. In the first few pages, we meet Chioma, a Nigerian American on vacation to see her aunt and grandmother in rural Nigeria. Soon after she arrives, Chioma is confronted with a severed head at her doorstep, a grisly reminder of her past. Quickly, Chioma's holiday devolves into a nightmare of survival. With beautiful, haunting imagery, "After the Rain" is about reckoning with our past and creating our own peace.
Available Jan 5 2021
Absolutely gorgeous. "After the Rain' is John Jennings and David Brame's comic book adaptation of the short story by science fiction writer Dr. Nnedi Okorafor. In the first few pages, we meet Chioma, a Nigerian American on vacation to see her aunt and grandmother in rural Nigeria. Soon after she arrives, Chioma is confronted with a severed head at her doorstep, a grisly reminder of her past. Quickly, Chioma's holiday devolves into a nightmare of survival. With beautiful, haunting imagery, "After the Rain" is about reckoning with our past and creating our own peace.
Thank you to Verso Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 18th 2020
McKenzie Wark's "Sensoria" aims to overwhelm the brain by breaking down any and all man-made barriers to knowledge. One example is the fascinating exploration of biopolitics, which is the application of biological concepts like a genetic basis to violent behavior to push the political agenda of criminalization of young black boys under the super-predator theory. The difficulty is that Wark doesn't spend any time critiquing these theories or offering nuanced discussions, like how the research used to justify these genetic trials are often racist. Overall, the pace of this book is rapid fire and Wark jumps between topics in a frightening pace. It felt like whiplash in a way and it was definitely an experience!
Available Aug 18th 2020
McKenzie Wark's "Sensoria" aims to overwhelm the brain by breaking down any and all man-made barriers to knowledge. One example is the fascinating exploration of biopolitics, which is the application of biological concepts like a genetic basis to violent behavior to push the political agenda of criminalization of young black boys under the super-predator theory. The difficulty is that Wark doesn't spend any time critiquing these theories or offering nuanced discussions, like how the research used to justify these genetic trials are often racist. Overall, the pace of this book is rapid fire and Wark jumps between topics in a frightening pace. It felt like whiplash in a way and it was definitely an experience!
Thank you to Northwestern University Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 15 2020
WOW. I went into this book completely unaware of who Lisa B Thompson was or having read a play since my high school years where we read August Wilson's "Fences". I was completely unprepared for how much I would end up enjoying the experience. Thompson's three plays, "Underground", "Monroe" and "The Mamalogues" focus on the Black middle class experience, predominantly in the thirty years and older. Coming from all walks of life, Thompson's vivid characters delve into topics as diverse as the Black Lives Matter protests, the Great Migration and Black motherhood. With excellently curated playlists, witty dialogue and deep discussions,Thompson offers a little bit for every audience.
One of my favorite discussions occurred in Underground, between Mason and Kyle, regarding class and protest. As an upper middle class individual, Kyle is able to act and take risks that Mason, a struggling lower middle class, simply can't afford to. Viewed in the context of modern day protests, this important nuance begs us to ask who is taking the risk inherent in protesting and who can afford to do so? A lot of organizers I've worked with are upper middle class kids who can afford to spend hours researching, reading and theorizing, who can afford to risk losing their jobs because their parents can pay the bills. And yet by positioning themselves in leadership positions in protest groups, are they not recreating the same power structures they are seeking to destroy? I don't know what the solution is, just that I got chills in the final moments of the play when there's knocking in the door and Kyle turns to Mason and asks "What are you willing to die for?"
Available Aug 15 2020
WOW. I went into this book completely unaware of who Lisa B Thompson was or having read a play since my high school years where we read August Wilson's "Fences". I was completely unprepared for how much I would end up enjoying the experience. Thompson's three plays, "Underground", "Monroe" and "The Mamalogues" focus on the Black middle class experience, predominantly in the thirty years and older. Coming from all walks of life, Thompson's vivid characters delve into topics as diverse as the Black Lives Matter protests, the Great Migration and Black motherhood. With excellently curated playlists, witty dialogue and deep discussions,Thompson offers a little bit for every audience.
One of my favorite discussions occurred in Underground, between Mason and Kyle, regarding class and protest. As an upper middle class individual, Kyle is able to act and take risks that Mason, a struggling lower middle class, simply can't afford to. Viewed in the context of modern day protests, this important nuance begs us to ask who is taking the risk inherent in protesting and who can afford to do so? A lot of organizers I've worked with are upper middle class kids who can afford to spend hours researching, reading and theorizing, who can afford to risk losing their jobs because their parents can pay the bills. And yet by positioning themselves in leadership positions in protest groups, are they not recreating the same power structures they are seeking to destroy? I don't know what the solution is, just that I got chills in the final moments of the play when there's knocking in the door and Kyle turns to Mason and asks "What are you willing to die for?"
In "Afterlife," Julia Alvarez reveals how life is not always lost even when it seems to be. Heartbroken Antonia Vega, an award winning author, recently lost her husband Sam, can't seem to find her older sister, and finds an undocumented, pregnant woman at her doorstep. Jumping between snapshots of Vega's adolescence with her sisters and her current day dilemma, Alvarez once again emphasizes the universal themes of sisterhood and the ties that bind us.
Personally, I couldn't really get into the story or catch the emotional side that Alvarez usually brings up in me. Perhaps it is more a reflection of my mental state than of Alvarez's usually quite brilliant writing.
Personally, I couldn't really get into the story or catch the emotional side that Alvarez usually brings up in me. Perhaps it is more a reflection of my mental state than of Alvarez's usually quite brilliant writing.
Thank you to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
I'm not really sure how to process "Beneficio". Part poetry, part philosophical thought, part ghost story, the short comic by Michal Kalicki defies boundaries. In essence, Kalicki asks a very simple question. Who or what profits and what is the cost in modern day society? Using the lens of a young adult female, Kalicki then questions everything from the hollowness of existing on social media platforms to war time Warsaw. In vivid and gorgeous drawings, Gawron brings Kalicki's ponderings to life. I enjoyed the amount of creativity in this book, the way it unhinges itself from any form or narrative. It is a very freeing read.
I'm not really sure how to process "Beneficio". Part poetry, part philosophical thought, part ghost story, the short comic by Michal Kalicki defies boundaries. In essence, Kalicki asks a very simple question. Who or what profits and what is the cost in modern day society? Using the lens of a young adult female, Kalicki then questions everything from the hollowness of existing on social media platforms to war time Warsaw. In vivid and gorgeous drawings, Gawron brings Kalicki's ponderings to life. I enjoyed the amount of creativity in this book, the way it unhinges itself from any form or narrative. It is a very freeing read.
Thank you to Tin House and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 18 2020
From the talented Khadijah Queen comes another sharply observed, generous and deeply heartfelt inventory of the soul. Ranging from love poems to mental health to politics of NJ Transit, Queen has a way of transforming the ordinary into light and dark, creating quiet spaces of reflection in an often too loud world. I can't do her work any justice other than to say that it acts as an anodyne, or painkiller, for the soul.
Available Aug 18 2020
From the talented Khadijah Queen comes another sharply observed, generous and deeply heartfelt inventory of the soul. Ranging from love poems to mental health to politics of NJ Transit, Queen has a way of transforming the ordinary into light and dark, creating quiet spaces of reflection in an often too loud world. I can't do her work any justice other than to say that it acts as an anodyne, or painkiller, for the soul.
Thank you to Verso Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 18 2020
Unsettling and fast paced, Fatima Bhutto's The Runaways attempts to peel back the layers on modern day Karachi. When Anita accidentally runs into Monty at her new, private school in Karachi she can hardly predict the changes that are about to come her way. Addressing everything from the vacuity of modern, upper class living to the personal conflict homosexuality in Islam to a young girl's yearning for freedom, Bhutto's novel feels like it pulls the reader in many directions at once. It's often muddy grounds both philosophically and ideologically, and gets even more confusing when the characters start to adopt secondary names. The final scene is chilling and tense and I wish more of that dramatic writing was carried throughout the rest of the book.
Available Aug 18 2020
Unsettling and fast paced, Fatima Bhutto's The Runaways attempts to peel back the layers on modern day Karachi. When Anita accidentally runs into Monty at her new, private school in Karachi she can hardly predict the changes that are about to come her way. Addressing everything from the vacuity of modern, upper class living to the personal conflict homosexuality in Islam to a young girl's yearning for freedom, Bhutto's novel feels like it pulls the reader in many directions at once. It's often muddy grounds both philosophically and ideologically, and gets even more confusing when the characters start to adopt secondary names. The final scene is chilling and tense and I wish more of that dramatic writing was carried throughout the rest of the book.
This book was incredible! As an Asian American Studies minor, I really love reading works that go beyond simple stereotypes and delve into policy and power structures that uphold the stereotypes. In "Disposable Domestics", Chang takes us on a journey through the exploitative world of domestic labor in the United States, discussing policies like SAPS which disadvantage Asian countries like the Philippines and Mexico to supply labor into the US, lack of labor unions among domestic workers leading to gross mistreatment by employers and lack of federal aid policy leaving workers at the mercy of their employers. Peeling back layers of lawsuits, interviews with community organizers, news articles, and more, Chang makes a convincing argument for change in the domestic services industry.
As a student of ethnic studies, learning about how categories of race came into existence is always an interesting historical excavation deeply rooted in the United State's history of xenophobia and racism. In "Inventing Latinos" Laura E Gomez pulls from history, sociology, and anthropology to understand who and what was and wasn't considered Latinx in America. Starting with the Mexican American War of the 1800s to Trump's modern day immigration policies, Gomez shows how policies and politics are a direct result of historical conflict between Latin America and the United States. Most importantly, Gomez provides context for the stereotypes of Latinx folk that we see in the media to the United State's discriminatory and violent policy both abroad and at home. A comprehensive, well researched whirlwind of a read!