National Book Awards Review: Colson Whitehead, Underground Railroad

PURCHASE~GOODREADS

The National Book Awards Longlist is in! And well, yes, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad. Going down as one of my Black Lives Matter novels, by me, this book is recommended for your reading! My review on Instagram:

I love being home! I love completing a book! Finally! Amidst all my project work chaos, completed Colson Whitehead! 😀 Well, I loved this one too. Another read that shows just exactly how #BlackLivesMatter and how we built, made, created #America as it stands! Another read that documents the harsh trans-atlantic slave trade! A thriller! Yes, despite it being about slavery, a thriller-element is included when our lead character escapes her master to freedom. But she doesn't exactly get freedom, does she? The most painful form of slavery is always the one with phantom shackles, the one that enslaves the mind and slowly seeks to cripple the body! It doesn't help that through all the small jobs she finds, experimentation made on blacks to reduce fertility because of the fear of revolution against the "white" race, the ruthless gunning down of blacks by "law enforcement officers", there's a slave-catcher on her tail! Brilliant! Except I do have one problem: the writing; done, done, done-before! I wanted an original style to meet this amazing storyline. Yet, this is a book you should pick up if you're in the mood for a bit of slavery fiction with thriller elements! Yup, enjoy! 😀 Oh, plus, the food, nothing like a welcome home meal (waakye with rice, see waakye recipe in previous posts) ... made by my own hands with the mum eating most of it! 😒 #colsonwhitehead #undergroundrailroad #fiction #bibliophile #foodporn #meals #recipe #foodstagram #foodie #bookstagram #African #slavery #thriller #Oprah #bookish #bookporn

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Sep 18, 2016 at 12:06am PDT

Book Review: Between The World and Me by TaNehisi Coates

As part of my off-the-track reading, I was gifted this book by an amazing friend to probably teach me a lesson. A lesson which I learnt with a wince! This book has made me begin compiling a BlackLivesMatter list which I'll host up for you all to check out. And now my review for this book on Instagram:

"This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it." 😞 I believe @ttchume gifted me with this book because she wanted me to learn the harsh realities of the America I'd romanticized and that the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter is really a thing. 😱 Well, it worked. I read this book with a wince! Between the World and Me is an amazing account of racism in America and the degeneration of the word 'Black' in Western societies. To be "Black", is to be preyed, victimized and made to look like the villain. To be Black is to live in fear of your life, to live in the deep trenches of injustice no amount of freedom could haul you out. I've never really been emotional about a book on racism this much. A moving tale told from the point of view of a father making his little boy conscious to all the evils inflicted on his race by the "whites". Evils which till this day continue to persist. I haven't teared up enough. I think I'm going to comfort eat from my piggy-bank savings—the one labelled "Welcome To New York" 😭 #betweentheworldandme #tanehisicoates #racism #bookstagram #nonfiction #literary #bibliophile #injustice #black #bookporn #currentread #

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Sep 7, 2016 at 6:51am PDT