Twitter summary: A brutally honest yet beautiful narration of Coates’ life as a Black man growing up in Baltimore and then as a father.
The good: Coates’ narration in the audiobook is perfect. I found myself closing my eyes to truly listen to his prose, words and emotions. If I had read this book, I’m sure many pages would be flagged, sentences underlined and thoughts written in the margins. I can’t begin unpacking all of the feelings and experiences. Style wise, I loved how Coates was writing this letter to his child with his use of “you” and finally saying his child’s name (I won’t spoil it!) at the end. This book weaved in personal experiences, community/societal influences and American history to create a beautifully honest truth of the racial injustices of yesterday, today and tomorrow if we can’t find the way forward together.
The bad: None.
Recommendation: Definitely listen to the audiobook!
amongthecrowd reads 