Review by Booklist Review
Perry, a Princeton professor and author of the award-winning Looking for Lorraine (2018), presents, in the tradition of W. E. B. DuBois, James Baldwin, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, a letter to her two sons, and to all Black boys, encouraging them to stand back up in the face of stumbling. Voiced the way an African American mom might say it when whites are not around, and told against the backdrop of police killings of Black men (notably Eric Garner, whose words I can't breathe ring in the title), Perry's missive may echo a general American regret about the mismatch between Black crime and punishment. Perry shares well-told and funny memories of family trips to Alabama, Chicago, and Cambridge, which signal heritage and privilege, and innumerable gems from Black cultural thinkers on perseverance. This mother's striking and generous admonition to thrive even in the face of white mendacity also is a meditation on parenting. Reflective insights about injustice adjoin a few visceral apologies about every responsible parent's regrets, which might remind parents of the divide between the deed of giving life and the social consequence of the deed. For Black boys and their parents who struggle to get childhood and mothering-along or fathering-along correct: Just always remember: even if you tumble . . . you must move towards freedom. --Sean Chambers Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In her follow up to Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, Perry pens a personal, heartfelt letter to her two young black sons, Freeman and Issa. She talks about her family history: who she is, where she came from, and how her sons came to be who they are. But more importantly, she tells the story in the context of what it's like growing up black in today's America. She makes it clear to them: "No matter how many say so, my sons, you are not a problem. Mothering you is not a problem. It is a gift." Perry writes with thoughtful, brutal honesty, telling her children, "There are fingers itching to have a reason to cage or even slaughter you." But she tempers it with the power and belief of hope, "Your testimony is living with the passionate intensity of one whose presence matters despite the violence of this world." It's a treat to listen to Perry narrate her own prose. Each word she utters is packed with emotion, painting an intimate picture of a mother sharing her deepest sentiments with her children. VERDICT This thought-provoking audiobook is worth listening to repeatedly for the powerful insights it offers into today's society.--Gladys Alcedo, Wallingford, CT
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A distinguished scholar writes to her sons about the joy, possibility, and grace of black life amid ongoing American struggles with race, gender, and class.Carrying on an iconic legacy of public letters from black writersthink James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Kiese Laymon, among many othersPerry (African American Studies/Princeton Univ.; Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, 2018, etc.) reflects on her family history, tying it together with cultural allegories to impress upon her sons the precious inheritance found within black social life and the pursuit of a livelihood full of "passion, profound human intimacy and connection, beauty and excellence." A multidisciplinary and acclaimed researcher, Perry uses references throughout the slim volume that range across centuries and the global black diaspora, across folklore, music, and visual arts as well as the influence of numerous faith traditions. "The people with whom you can share the interior illumination," she writes, "that is the sacramental bond." She breaks down the structures of violence and marginalization that black children face while uplifting the imaginative and improvisatory space for them to focus on their becoming, to not be trapped in misnarrated stories or "forced into two dimensions when you are in four." Echoing Baldwin's distinctive "Letter to My Nephew," Perry emphasizes the critical life discipline of making choicesnot in the shallow sense of choosing success or achievement but rather within the depths of the long, historic freedom struggle to answer important questionse.g., "How will you treat your word? How will you hold your heart? How will you hold others?" Deeply intergenerational, the book blurs intended audiences to call all of us to face up to legacies of injustice while insisting on the grace and conviviality necessary to imagine just futures.A masterfully poetic and intimate work that anchors mothering within the long-standing tradition of black resistance and resourcefulness. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
