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micaelamariem's review against another edition
3.5
The only reason this is 3 stars and not 4 stars is because animals were hurt in the making of this book and I cannot abide by that.
However, the book was beautifully written, illustrating the racial injustices Wright experienced and fought against (or his friends did, considering this may not be fully autobiographical).
The first part was very compelling, reminiscent of many coming of age tales. The second part wasn’t as interesting because it focused more on politics and Wright’s fall into communism, which had the potential to be interesting, but somewhere fell flat.
Still, if this is a true memoir, it’s really hard to judge and rate it (especially a classic one!) because it’s someone’s life. You can’t say anything about the plot because it actually happened.
I can say the writing and commentary was beautiful and evocative, the themes were strong, and you can tell he had things to say.
But also please don’t hurt animals :(
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
earthtokb's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Mental illness, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism
antitypically's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction
notthatcosta's review against another edition
4.25
My knowledge of American history has many gaps, so the additional context offered by this book around the North/South divide was very insightful.
Despite it being very slow-paced and dense, I found myself getting much more into the book as it progressed, particularly from his late teens onwards. My main complaint would be that a lot of time was spent on his childhood, and while those formative experiences were very important and defining for him, I found it excruciating read about him getting accused of acting a certain way and beaten, and then repeat by several adults.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
srm's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Bullying and Violence
Minor: Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Slavery, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury