The Message
Ratings41
Average rating4.5
I'm rating this a little bit higher for two reasons.
One, is that I wouldn't be surprised if open racists (conservatives) and fox-smile racists (liberals and democrats) tried to review bomb this for its pro-Palestinian liberation message.
Two, this reads like a prelude, and maybe Coates himself is unaware of this. He's beginning to consider the wide world of oppression and justice, and connecting the dots between different groups of colonized and segregated communities. He's starting to work on something this book and it feels like he's not quite there yet, but I feel hopeful that his next book will start to wrap a bow on it.
PS - Free Palestine. Don't stain your own soul by voting for apartheid and genocide
The Message – 5 Stars
Before starting a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates, you have to sleep well, breathe deeply, and tense your abs—because you’re about to get punched in the stomach repeatedly.
The structure feels a little unconventional, not perfectly cohesive, but that doesn’t stop the book from delivering "the message" powerfully in multiple ways.
What makes the bitter pill easier to swallow is Coates' masterful prose and precise, controlled tone—not angry, not hyperbolic, just right. He is an extremely technical writer with a lot to say, and he says it with precision and depth.
This book left me emotionally drained, and while I can’t read books like this every week, I’m glad I didn’t miss this one.
A minor note: Coates narrates the audiobook himself, and while he does a great job making it even more real, he speaks a bit faster than professional narrators—I had to slow down my usual listening speed.
I need to read it to fully grasp everything that was talked about but it was amazing.
Read for collective liberation book club. Beautiful & thought-provoking. I am most struck by Coates' humility. He realized (through feedback) after "The Case for Reparations" how much he still had to learn about Palestine, and then wrote a book as his apology-through-education. I do wish there was a little more in the book about the time between this first feedback and the trip to Palestine he discusses, but you can't have everything!
Literature is anguish.
It is also the fourth wall of a comic panel. It is also the sky beyond the roof, a ship deck in a storm. It is a hammer that must put a blow right into our self-assurance. And, the Ta-Nehisi Coates I have read do just that.
About a year back, I met a middle-aged person. The now ongoing Palestine conflict has just started back then. That person believed that whatever was happening to civilian Palestinians was happening for good. He was an Islamophobe of particular brutality.
I know he was bullied for being an atheist in a Muslim-majority country; I know drug abuse also contributed to this bitterness. But, mostly, it was propaganda. It was a lack of critical thinking. It was the lack of knowledge— of human cruelty that found its outlet in power. Power makes everyone an oppressor without failure.
Ta-Nehisi Coates made a point of that. I can try, too. But, I know very well, being a minority in many axes myself, no one will understand, except the oppressed.
In the end, this book saddened me. Because I know humanity is beyond saving.
Originally posted at hermitage.utsob.me.
I always love reading anything Ta-Nehisi Coates writes. This covers his travels to Dakar and Palestine as well as his own thoughts that stem from those experiences. He compares the Jim Crow-era South to current Palestine and the Apartheid state. Another book that I feel can add to this is Caste by Isabel Wilkerson so I’d also recommend that if you’re interested.
This book is an easy endorsement, and the audiobook is read by Coates himself so that’s fun.
Thanks to Libro.fm and the publisher for the alc!
This was a great narration of an impressive set of essays. I appreciated the work overall, and was particularly interested in the thoughtful exploration of the Israel/Palestine conflict. It definitely gives you a lot to think about. Would recommend.
