Mandy Fowler

A few days before the hubby and I left for Joshua Tree I saw a friend mention this book as a "game changer" on her Facebook page. I figured I'd throw it on my "for later shelf" at the library so I wouldn't forget, but I noticed the audio book was available and it was only about 3.5 hours long (which would be perfect for the short roadtrip). I scooped it up from the library and the hubby and I listened to it on the way to and from JTree. Other than hearing it was very impactful I wasn't really sure what it was about. This book is written from the father's perspective to a son. The author is telling/ teaching his son about the ways of American culture and how it is essentially built on the back of violence, terror and the backs of others. Although this book focuses on being black in America, I felt like because it was written as a "letter" from a father to a son, it wasn't as pointed as other books that come out blatantly to say "this is what's wrong with America and this is why you suck". (Don't get me wrong, I absolutely believe that the plight of blacks in America is real, despicable and something that needs to change, but some books turn off their readers because the audience doesn't like to be accused of their wrongdoings. The way this book was written I felt like I was observing an intimate conversation between a dad and his boy and was able to take away some very important knowledge without automatically being on the defense.) The hubby and I both felt as though we walked away with a better understanding of the systematic issues blacks (and other minorities) face. I think that the only thing that could have made this book better would have been to include actionable ideas on how to change the broken machine we are all a part of. I read books like this and know things need to change, but have a hard time seeing how I can help. Maybe in a tiny way being able to suggest others to read this book, question our environment and have honest and open conversations is one of the first (of many) steps I can take. PS I much appreciate when the author reads his/her own book. I would give it a 9 out of 10.

At once introspective & profoundly honest, Coates' colloquial-inundated epistle is ratting, brutal, touching, & may have a twinge of hopeful despair (forgiving the contradiction in terms). The discussion & introspection about "race" & the socialisation of supposed ethnographical self-identification are almost alarmingly recounted--while the story almost holds a film-like revisiting of the shared memories of both father and son (the Michael Brown and Treyvon Martin mentions are very emotional, & outside of his perspective very unique.)

This book pulls no punches, & is heightened tremendously through the author's magnetic, meaning-rich voice: the only one that could recount these words.

Experience Coates’s trademark style---a mix of lyrical personal narrative, reimagined history, essayistic argument, and reportage---in his own voice in this wonderful audiobook about race in America. Don’t miss this moving, thoughtful, and National Book Award-winning memoir. It will make you think, it will make you cry, it will make you want to read more of his work.

Coates' writing style was for me, achingly beautiful. He has the knowledge and talent to draw connections that the reader may never have considered, but that are obvious once they've been pointed out. I will never look at the sitcoms I grew up with the same, as someone who grew up inside the dream. "Between the World and Me" is a total perception-shift in 3.5 hours and you must listen to the author read it himself.
~Alexa

This book is a very intimate portrait between an African American father and his son. The author explains his thoughts so eloquently and makes the reader feel like we are in Coates mind and world. The audiobook is especially great since he narrates his own experiences and adds a depth to whats being read. This is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy the human and internal battles of Racism in America.

"Between the World and Me" was incredible, and was made all the more powerful by listening to Ta-Nehisi Coates narrate it. I could feel his pain, his hope, his sorrow, his awe. Coates' prose is brilliant and often left me reaching for a pen to jot down one of his sentences.

This book is short yet powerful enough that I'd like to see it as a reading requirement in high school.

Very powerful book and the author's reading makes it all that more powerful.

Hearing him read this himself is really great.

Finishing this just after the election debacle make it all the more real and devastating. It helped me see just how ignorant privileged Caucasian males, like myself, are. The book left me feeling even more hopeless than when I started and, given the individuals just voted into office, with a real sense of impending doom. This book is not uplifting or solution oriented but it is honest and eye opening.