Trying to get through this audiobook and am having a hard time. Unsure about what‘s fiction and what‘s real. I‘m always listening with a super critical ear and find myself extremely skeptical of a white guy from Boston filling in the blanks about things, people, moments in Sudan and Atlanta. I‘m not saying that his research wasn‘t extensive or that he didn‘t approach w care, I just...
Maybe autobiographical novels aren‘t for me.

I have the hard copy of this book but decided to listen to audio. Super dense. I learned so much about the French Revolution. Def will read again. Oh yea, Napoleon was a HATERRRRRRR.

“how can one respect, let alone adopt, the values of a people who do not, on any level whatever, live the way they say they do, or the way they say they should?”

Just finished this #BHM reading. I can revisit these essays over and over

Had an 7 hour drive and the audio version of this was great company. Subtle and moving. This is the first book I‘ve read by Tayari. Looking forward to reading her other novels.

so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself. (Pt 2) - Jamaica Kincaid

Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go— (pt 1)

This book was SOOOO good. The connection I have to it as a descendant of enslaved people. As an American citizen. As a human being. Those that sold slaves to America had no idea that there would be these racist, torturous systems put into place that would continue until this day.

"Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves." -Maame

So my New Years goal was to read a book a month, and this is my 6th. Audiobooks have changed my life. Lol 🎧 #currentlylistening to this and I can‘t step away for too long. Fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time.

My 100th time trying to finish this. It‘s so good. Can‘t wait to get to the end. Ta-Nehisi‘s writing...swoooooon

Now reading.