Review by Booklist Review
The word girl has multiple meanings between Black women, depending on the inflection of tone. In this collection of essays, American journalist Hunt examines the contemporary plight of Black womanhood, both in the U.S. and in London, where she has spent the last 10 years. She grapples with the cultural term "Black Girl Magic," which originated on social media to celebrate Black women but has also deepened the expectations for them to excel. In 5 of the 20 essays, Hunt taps other Black women to share their journeys with beauty, hair, survival, grief at the hands of police officers, and the admission of not having it all together. The book truly shines in the moments where Hunt shares her personal experiences of motherhood, her successful career, and those times she lifted as she climbed. Her writing is conversational, yet impactful. The span of the book makes readers feel like they're catching up with an old friend while gaining an insightful education on the complicated ways modern Black women move throughout the world.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hunt, deputy editor of the fashion magazine Grazia UK, debuts with a rich collection of personal essays about her life and career. Reflecting on her experiences as an African American woman in the U.K., Hunt lets readers follow along as she attends the U.K. premiere of Black Panther, confronts the coded racism of Airbnb owners, and reports on the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, the U.K.'s worst residential fire since WWII. To trace the beginnings of her fascination with fashion, Hunt recalls hearing her aunt describe attending the Ebony Fashion Fair, a "traveling catwalk expo," in Virginia, and the encouragement Hunt received early on in her career from Bethann Hardison, one of the first high-profile Black models and an early activist for industry diversity. Celebrating girl as "the root word in the unique love language between Black woman," Hunt invites some of the friends she's made in the U.K. to contribute guest essays, including fashion blogger Freddie Harrel, who riffs on braiding as a female bonding ritual, and Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams, who describes becoming the first Black woman to win a British Book Award. Hunt's work will broaden perspectives and inspire readers. Agent: Kate Evans, Peters Frasers Dunlop. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Journalist Hunt writes an excellent collection of essays sharing her experiences and perspectives as a Black woman growing up in the United States; as an expat living in London; and as a writer, speaker, and commentator in media and fashion. Her essays probe the iconic phrase #BlackGirlMagic and what it means to experience life and media today as a Black woman. Standout essays candidly explore topics such as pregnancy loss, religion, and police violence, as well as major media events. Peppered throughout the volume are a handful of essays by other women who share their stories of success, resilience, vulnerability, and tragedy. If there is one tone that ties the book together, it is reflection. Both Hunt and the additional contributors bring a thoughtfulness to their narratives that leads the reader to pause and reflect as well. The final chapter, "The Way We Grieve," profoundly reflects on the emotional toll of repeatedly grieving Black people who become hashtags. VERDICT This thought-provoking collection of ruminations from Black women on how they thrive and struggle in the complex world today is particularly relevant to this moment but will remain an important text for years to come.--Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Essays highlighting the successes, challenges, and perseverance of Black women in the 2010s. "It's a wondrous thing to be Black," writes Hunt, a trailblazing global fashion editor and style director. In her debut book, she reflects on "a decade's worth of personal and cultural milestones." What made the last decade an "age of Black Girl Magic"? An internet boom, a new wave of feminism, a renaissance of Black creativity, and "the first-person essay economy" combined to give Black women heightened visibility, which Hunt and her co-essayists celebrate while noting how the magic of ordinary Black women began to "get left out, lost." A quarter of the essays in Hunt's collection are penned by others writing candidly on their personal, professional, and political journeys. These include Ebele Okobi, Facebook's public policy director for Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey, who reflects on the loss of her brother, who was killed by police in California. Taken together, the essays form a chorus of Black diasporic voices across continents, covering the politics of Black hair, self-acceptance and White beauty standards, activism, motherhood, "the abysmally poor maternal health outcomes of Black women in the US," and more. Hunt, a gifted storyteller, has a strong voice all her own, and she explores a host of current concerns, including Black grief and "what happens when the Internet and social media do the eulogizing." She considers the Black church's "fraught history with women" through the lens of singer Aretha Franklin's public funeral. Amid the "angst and chaos," Hunt hopes readers also see Black women as people who are "loving…growing, and finding the meaning in life as we go." And we do see their fullness in this collage of insightful analyses of the messy places where race, culture, and technology intersect. A powerful collection that is very much of the present moment of resistance but will also endure. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
