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Summary
Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of The Roots' 28 Brilliant Books by Black Authors in 2018
"A writer to be reckoned with." --Roxane Gay
Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2018 by Esquire, Elle, Vogue, Nylon, The Millions, Refinery29, the Huffington Post, Book Riot, Bitch Media, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Vol 1. Brooklyn, and Paperback Paris.
From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins' highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today--perfect for fans of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists.
Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn't afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to "be"--to live as, to exist as--a black woman today This is a book about black women, but it's necessary reading for all Americans.
Doubly disenfranchised by race and gender, often deprived of a place within the mostly white mainstream feminist movement, black women are objectified, silenced, and marginalized with devastating consequences, in ways both obvious and subtle, that are rarely acknowledged in our country's larger discussion about inequality. In This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins becomes both narrator and subject to expose the social, cultural, and historical story of black female oppression that influences the black community as well as the white, male-dominated world at large.
Whether she's writing about Sailor Moon; Rachel Dolezal; the stigma of therapy; her complex relationship with her own physical body; the pain of dating when men say they don't "see color"; being a black visitor in Russia; the specter of "the fast-tailed girl" and the paradox of black female sexuality; or disabled black women in the context of the "Black Girl Magic" movement, Jerkins is compelling and revelatory.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Jerkins's debut collection of essays forces readers to reckon with the humanity black women have consistently been denied. Her writing is personal, inviting, and fearless as she explores the racism and sexism black women face in America: "Blackness is a label that I do not have a choice in rejecting as long as systemic barriers exist in this country. But also, my blackness is an honor, and as long as I continue to live, I will always esteem it as such." In her opening essay, Jerkins recounts the moment the division between black girls and white girls became clear to her, when she was told by a fellow black girl that "they don't accept monkeys like you" after Jerkins failed to make the all-white cheerleading squad. This marks the first of many times that Jerkins asserts that a black woman's survival depends on her ability to assimilate to white culture. A later essay addresses the paradox of the explicit sexualization of black women's bodies and the cultural expectation that black women must be ashamed of their own sexuality in order to be taken seriously in a white world. At one point in the book, Jerkins lauds Beyoncé's Lemonade as art that finally represents black women as entire, complex human beings. One could say the same about this gorgeous and powerful collection. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
White people see it as a compliment when they do not see' you as a black person . . . because in white society, blackness exists only as a punishment. They do not understand that blackness doesn't undermine but rather vivifies our humanity. Jerkins' insightful response to the question of why she calls herself a black woman rather than simply a human encapsulates the themes of this tender, melodious essay collection. Whether parsing the pitfalls of the strong black woman trope, marveling at the obtuseness of white friends who casually introduce her to a skinhead, or navigating the layers of meaning around black hair in white spaces, Jerkins speaks firmly and unapologetically of misogynoir the myriad ways black womanhood is demeaned and debased in American society. Jerkins' forthright examination of her own experiences leads to a triumphant reclaiming of blackness in all its power, and her heartfelt love letter to Michelle Obama glows with familial pride in the beacon that reminds us that the ascendancy of a black woman . . . is possible. --Williams, Lesley Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
STEALING THE SHOW: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television, by Joy Press. (Atria, $26.) A former TV critic for The Village Voice reports on some remarkable women who have managed to make shows on their own terms, including Diane English ("Murphy Brown"), Shonda Rhimes ("Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal") and Jill Soloway ("Transparent"). A LAB OF ONE'S OWN: Science and Suffrage in the First World War, by Patricia Fara. (Oxford University, $24.95.) Fara offers a vibrant series of profiles of women for whom the war presented an opportunity to take on roles in the scientific and medical realm, previously denied them. BACK TALK: Stories, by Danielle Lazarin. (Penguin, paper, $16.) Short fiction that probes the lives of American women whose privilege doesn't protect them from society's burdens. Beautifully crafted, these stories aren't without viscera; sublimated rage fills the crevices between them. BRAZEN: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Penelope Bagieu. (First Second, $24.95.) A celebrated French graphic novelist, Bagieu brings together colorful, whimsical portraits of women - some known and some obscure - who broke the mold and lived life as they wanted. JUST THE FUNNY PARTS:... And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys' Club, by Nell Scovell. (Dey St./Morrow, $27.99.) In this memoir of life as a TV comedy writer, Scovell lays out the years of toxic misogyny she endured on various sets, and catalogs the men who were antagonists instead of comrades. It's not a short list. MRS., by Caitlin Macy. (Little, Brown, $27.) A bristling, funny, savage novel that homes in on the conflicted lives of three ultrawealthy Manhattan wives and the corrupt man on whom they take vengeance. Along the way it focuses boldly on the depths of women's experiences and their struggles with male power. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID: What Men Need to Know (And Women Need to Tell Them), by Joanne Lipman. (Morrow, $28.99.) Lipman, a seasoned journalist and newspaper editor, investigates the plight of working women with sympathy and reams of data, uncovering innumerable institutionalized prejudices. I WROTE THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU: Essays, by Tim Kreider. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) In Kreider's pleasurable and well-wrought essays, an affable hero gamely bumbles through adventures rich with moments of fleeting profundity and moral reckoning. THIS WILL BE MY UNDOING: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, by Morgan Jerkins. (Harper Perennial, paper, $15.99.) These challenging essays show how a sexist, racist culture prescribes black identity. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
School Library Journal Review
Jerkins has penned a complex look at what it means to be an African American woman who subscribes to the tenets of feminism but finds herself marginalized by and chained to a narrative crafted for her, not by her. These essays explore the many ways systemic racism and a lack of true solidarity within feminist circles impact black women. In "Monkeys Like You," the author deftly juxtaposes her dream of making an all-white cheerleading squad against the lunchroom bullying she receives at the hand of darker-skinned African American classmates. "How To Be Docile" examines how African American mothers sometimes unwittingly limit their daughters' sense of agency. Jerkins also thoroughly inspects the politics of natural hair, dating while black, and problematic voyeuristic writing, explaining how our culture separates a black woman from her humanity. This is an intensely personal, honest account of one woman's fight to reclaim her own narrative one word at a time. VERDICT An excellent addition to memoir collections.-Desiree Thomas, Worthington Library, OH © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In the provocative essays collected in her first book, Jerkins meditates on how it feels to be a black woman in the United States today.Brought up in suburban New Jersey, educated at Princeton, and now living in Harlem and working in publishing, the author often feels like an outsider. Her essays, usually deeply personal and always political, examine that unease. In the first, she goes back to elementary school, when she realized that "the only thing I wanted was to be a white cheerleader." Other pieces consider the fraught issue of hair for black women, the self-repression imposed by the taboo against being thought a "fast-tailed girl," the social pressure to identify as a "human" rather than as a "black woman," and her ambivalence about the "black girl magic" movement. Some of her most effective essays take unusual shapes: one is an open letter to Michelle Obama, addressing her as "the beacon that reminds white people that 99 percent of them will never reach where you are," and another is an ironic list of instructions on "How to Be Docile," which provides the black female subject with everything she needs: "looks, deference to man, suppressed sexuality, silence." At times, particularly in the final essay, which lists many of the black women the author believes could have helped her and didn't, Jerkins comes across as whiny. Sometimes, as in the piece about the many reasons she decided to have labiaplasty, she appears to be working hard to justify her actions. While she identifies herself as a feminist, the primary "other" against whom Jerkins sets herself is the automatically privileged white woman, "supported, cared for, and coddled."At its best, the book reveals complicated, messily human responses to knotty problems. Never intended as the final word on the black female experience in America today, it uncovers the effect of social forces on one perceptive young woman. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Jerkins provides a critical view of American culture, similar to Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, which is about the intersection of race and feminism in British culture. Here, the pop culture essayist examines her life as a feminist woman of color while sharing insight on her faith as it relates to contemporary culture. Weaving personal narratives with historical, social, and cultural anecdotes, Jerkins discusses such topics as body image, race identification, fitting in, dating, sexuality, faith, disability, and the Black Girl Magic movement. Each chapter provides insightful, personal, and frank analysis of how several identities can and do overlap with one another; especially being a black women of faith in white America. Jerkins provides awareness into her own complexities-college-educated, black, female, Millennial, feminist-in an attempt to figure out where she fits in and in an effort to uncover the intricacies of her multilayered identity. VERDICT For those interested in a younger perspective on black studies and feminism.-Tiffeni Fontno, Boston Coll. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
