Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith
I
decided to make a “must read” list for myself in July of 2017. These were all
of the books that had been sitting on my shelf for a considerable amount of
time, that I knew I needed to push myself to read regardless of how I would
handle the content. This year has been a tough one for me so far and I found
myself shying away from some of the books that I really wanted to read but
didn’t think I could handle emotionally. Invisible
Man, Got the Whole Word Watching was one of those books. This was a book that
I had heard quite a bit about and was given quite a bit of praise. I bought it
but I waited. Then I made that damn list and was dead set on finishing every
book on it. I started Invisible Man, Got
the Whole World Watching and had to pull myself off the couch and get ready
to go to work. If I could have called off that day to finish reading it, I
would have. I starting reading Smith’s words and instantly began to relate to
his story, his life. I was also born in 1986 and could immediately relate to a
lot of what Smith had to say.
And he
wasn’t holding back. Smith’s social commentary was so spot on and honest that
it spoke to me in ways that were all too familiar. I’m at the age now where I
can recognize hard truths and he refused to back away from them. The way he
discussed the black community, politics, sexism, homophobia, the government,
the presidency, all of these issues that are issues that I’ve often had to
wrestle with and discuss. It wasn’t until I became more aware of the system in
which I was raised that I began to unlearn the problematic stances I had been
taught. Reading books like this by Smith brings me comfort in knowing that I am
not alone. These are things that many people have to wrestle with, come to
terms with and grow from. I was taken away by the depths Smith was willing to
discuss issues and the way in which he reflected on his own upbringing. His
social commentary and the way in which he could relate past events to current
events and the cycles that haven’t yet been broken was all very well done, well
though-out and well written. I loved this book. I rushed home and finished then
sat down to write this review. I want other people to read it and be exposed to
this because it is really intimate and honest. I give this 5 out of 5 stars.
Another home run, great review, I’ll be adding this one to my TBR pile
ReplyDelete