Matilda has gone ranty

(Ranty is absolutely a word)

This week we take a look at two five star reads – both are non-fiction. Both will make you angry at the world. Both will hurt your heart. Both should be added to your TBR.

First up, we have You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown. If you have been following along with my reviews since the beginning, and/or if you know me in real life, you will know that I am a huge fan of Brené Brown. This may be a very crude description of this book, but it is a series of essays which have been curated by Burke and Brown, and are almost real life examples of Brené Brown’s work in practice. (I am really struggling not to call Brené Brown, just “Brené” because I feel like I know her even though I absolutely do not know her).

This book opens up a really important dialogue about the experience of Black individuals navigating vulnerability and shame resilience. I have listened to podcasts/interviews with Brown and Burke and I am glad they decided to extend their work together to publish this book. Brown’s research together with Burke’s grounding in grassroots activism makes for a very powerful read. Their diverse perspectives offer an enlightening exploration of the intersection between race, vulnerability, and emotional well-being. I personally really appreciated the range of voices included in this book. I found myself saying over and over, “wow, I never really thought about it that way”. This book presents us with the gift of being able to glimpse into a small window of how others experience the world. There are personal narratives from a variety of Black writers, activists, and artists. These narratives offer us that window into the unique, often unspoken struggles Black individuals face regarding emotional vulnerability.

Although this is a compilation of essays – don’t let that put you off. It isn’t hugely academic (in the sense of being like a textbook that no one wants to read unless they have to!). The writing is easy to understand; the narratives are powerful and compelling. The book not only encourages self-examination but also instigates a broader societal discussion on systemic racial prejudices and biases. I felt that this book pushed me to consider Brené’s work on another level and think about vulnerability and resilience in the context of race. I would love to read a similar book centred around the experiences of New Zealanders – if I knew Brené I could discuss this with her. This book is a must read for anyone who is seeking to better understand the lived experiences of Black people. Highly recommend!

The second book which I also highly recommend is Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliot. This book won the Pulitzer Prize. (Maybe should’ve ended my review there but read on if you must). It is written by Andrea Elliot who followed this family for eight years. It is such a moving account of poverty and resilience in America. The book is largely centred around Dasani, a young girl who is navigating the harsh realities of homelessness and systemic poverty while living in New York. The writing is beautiful and empathetic. The account goes beyond Dasani’s story, addressing broader themes of social inequality, bureaucratic failures, and systemic racism. This story really hits home the impacts of compounding inequities. I wish everyone could read this book. I think it would cause people to second guess judgements about those of us who rely on the state for any type of support, and really demonstrate to people how these systems are extremely difficult to navigate (often by design).

This book raises critical questions about societal responsibility and governmental accountability in one of the world’s wealthiest nations. New Zealand systems are pretty awful for many of us, but I am grateful that they are not as bad as American systems. One example of this to give you some context: At one point in time, the mother of these children is ordered by the Court to live away from her children. To ensure that the family continues to have somewhere to live, the mother moves out of the house and the children stay with their father. The food stamps for the whole family are in the mother’s name. Because she is now gone (and there is a court order that if she sees the kids they will go into state care), the family no longer have food stamps and they go for a very long time without food, even with their father trying to get new food stamps issued. None of it makes any sense, and there seem to be so many simple solutions to ease the pressure put on this family. There are discussions in this book about the cost to the state of having the children in state care (the amount of financial support provided to foster carers) compared with the amount of support the children receive while the family are all together. It is an astronomical difference, and if that family received even a fraction of that financial support while they were together, you could see the potential to prevent them going into the system. (I am getting angry just thinking about it all!)

Invisible Child is a sobering, compelling, and essential read. Its message is a potent call to action to confront the inequities and injustices that pervade American society – and there are some definite lessons for New Zealand as well. I highly recommend this book for anyone who works in government, or in the not for profit sector. I also recommend this for the social justice warriors among us. (It also wouldn’t hurt for certain members of certain political parties to read this – really wanted to name them but I won’t!).

… Such an angry post today…

These are two five star reads which I read in 2023. If my angry rant hasn’t put you off, I highly recommend you add these to your list of books to read, because life is too short to read bad books.