November Book Breakdowns
Hey hello! This is my first official “Book Breakdown” where I write about a fiction and nonfiction book that I read each month. These are books that we have here on the shelves at the Duxbury Free Library, and feature authors from historically marginalized identities (such as immigrant, POC, LGBTQ, and/or disabled authors).
Let's get started!
Title: There There
Author: Tommy Orange
Summary/Themes:
This novel brings together Indigenous histories and cultures throughout each story told, past present and future.
From book jacket:
"Follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize...together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American--grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism."
Notes/Quotable Moments:
"We are defined by everyone else."
"Do you know how many Indian women go missing every year?" Geraldine says.
'Do you?" I say.
No, but I heard a high number once and the real number's probably even higher.'
'I saw something too, someone posted about women in Canada.'
'It's not just Canada, it's all over. There's a secret war on women going on in the world. Secret even to us. Secret even though we know it,' Geraldine says."
" 'That's their culture,' Blue says.
'What is?'
'Taking over.'
'I don't know. My mom's white--'
'You don't have to defend all white people you think aren't a part of the problem just because I said something negative about white culture,' Blue says. And Edwin's heart rate goes up. He's heard her get mad on the phone, at other people, but never at him."
"Tony hears that she's responding, but doesn't listen. People don't want any more than a little story they can bring back home with them, to tell their friends and family around the dinner table, to talk about how they saw a real Native American boy on the train, that they still exist."
Reference to historical events such as the Occupation of Alcatraz from 1969-1971 and the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.
Genre/sub-genre: Fiction
Available Formats: Physical book at the DFL, eBook and Audiobook on Libby/Overdrive
Personal Thoughts:
I thought this book was thought-provoking and engaging, with a wide range of voices, You start to see the connections between the characters the further you read. Plus, there's a helpful "Cast of Characters" list at the beginning of the book, to help readers make connections between the 12 voices in the narrative. The ending is where all of the storylines and connections that you've been reading about finally come together at the powwow. The action slowly starts to build, as the powwow date gets closer. I also think there were amny insightful and important reflections on Indigenous history and modern Native cultures.
Recommended Resources/Read-Alike Books:
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Ceremony by Leslie Silko
This Land is Their Land by David Silverman
The Virgin of Flames by Chris Abani
The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
Title: Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
Author: C. Riley Snorton
Genre/sub-genre: Non-Fiction (New)
Summary/Themes:
An academic work that gives a historical and academic analysis of Black trans history in the United States.
Themes:
- moments of transition in identity
- gender cannot be understood in isolation
- critically engaging Black feminist thought and theory
- intersectionality of identities
Quotes/Notable Moments:
- "To feel Black in the diaspora, then, might be a trans experience"
- referencing Du Bois and "double consciousness": always looking at yourself through the eyes of others
- "Eschew binaristic logic": trans and cis, Black and white, abled and disabled
- " 'trans' is more about a movement with no clear origin and no point of arrival, and 'blackness' signifies upon an enveloping environment and condition of possibility"
- Referencing the work of Judith Butler and her theories of gender in Gender Trouble Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
- "the ungendering of blackness"
- "How does flesh express the distinction between the living and the dead, between the ontology and its opposite? Between being and nonbeing? In other words, how does flesh express the violence of metaphysics itself?"
- "Fugitive narratives featuring 'cross-dressed' and cross-gender modes of wander and escape, most often described in terms of passing"
Available Formats: Physical Book at the DFL
Personal Thoughts:
This book is a detailed and thought-provoking look at the intersectionality of Black and trans existences. I would categorize this book as an academic work, with lots of theory and detailed historical analysis. I acknowledge that this might not be the most accessible text for an entry into trans history, but I would still recommend this book nonetheless for many readers as it includes crucial historical information.
The beginning of the text goes into detail about J. Marion Sims, often referred to as the "father of modern gynecology" and his numerous experiments on enslaved Black women who could not give their consent to these procedures. It then goes into the history of enslaved peoples dressing as the opposite sex to escape slavery and gain freedom. And you might have heard of Marsha P. Johnson, but this work highlights the histories of Black trans individuals who aren't as historically well-known, such as Lucy Hicks Anderson, Carlett Brown, Georgia Black, James McHarris/Annie Lee Grant, and Ana Betty Brown.
Recommended Resources/Read-Alike Books:
Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
Nobody is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low by C. Riley Snorton
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for our Movement by Charlene Carruthers
In December, I'll be reading:
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad (Non-Fiction)
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto (Fiction)
Read along with me!
Upcoming Events from the Growing Together initiative:
Join us for the first meeting of the Biopic Book Club on Thursday, December 9th at 6:30pm where we will be discussing the book and movie Hidden Figures.If you haven’t seen the movie, there will be a public screening of the Hidden Figures movie here at the library on Thursday, December 2nd from 6-8pm.
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