{Review} We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Page Count: 52

Published on: July 29, 2014

Published by: Vintage

Genre(s): Nonfiction, Feminism, Essay
Source: Paperback - borrowed from my friend Martha

Age Rating: all ages! THIS IS IMPORTANT

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Book Depository: {click here}

My Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. 

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike. 


Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

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Hey, guys!

    I borrowed this lovely book from my friend Martha. She and I have awesome conversations about feminism and women's rights and other important topics...like our dogs. Anyway, shout-out to Martha for being lovely and letting me borrow her copy of this book. 

     We Should All Be Feminists is a short essay and a speech that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote and presented which is centered around feminism and how it is impactful in a twenty-first century society. Her speech centers around her own experiences and personal understandings about feminism. She emphasizes the importance of feminism and the understanding of feminism for all ages, but especially the young people of today. She ends her essay with a rallying cry for collective understanding and awareness for why everyone should be a feminist. 

     I really adored this small book. I'm definitely going to be acquiring a copy for myself in the future. Though most things were pretty obvious to me, as a feminist, I felt like her connections to her own life and the Nigerian culture were absolutely brilliant and so impactful. Her experiences and examples that she used were very engaging and insightful. I really appreciated that she did not just focus on the negative aspects of masculinity but addresses the biases that we as a culture have developed because of the differences that we share - specifically because of our biological make up. 

    This book is an excellent introduction to modern feminism. I'm so excited to share this with my family, especially my younger sister. I think it is important to realize how many stereotypes we have internalized and how they influence how we interact with one another. 

Let's be kind guys. Let's love one another. 

Olivia 

~Liv the Book Nerd~
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Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur

Page Count: 204

Published on: November 4, 2014

Published by: Createspace

Genre(s): Poetry, Nonfiction, Feminism, Contemporary, Adult, Romance, Cultural, Mental Health, Sociology, Literature  

Source: Paperback -Borrowed

Age Rating: PG-17 -mature themes and topics

Trigger Warning: Rape & Abuse

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Twitter: @rupikaur_

My Rating: 3 stars

Goodreads synopis:

milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

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Hey, guys!

      I was lent this book by one of my friends that I met at college (Thank you, Abby!) and I was really excited but kind of wary of this book of poetry. I had heard  from Abby that the book was really amazing, but I had heard from Whitney from WhittyNovels on YouTube that it wasn't that great. I kind of have to agree with Whitney. Overall, the book was kind of underwhelming. I mean the hype for this poetry is unreal, but I really wasn't impressed with most of it. Some of the poems were really beautiful and profound, but some of them just weren't. 

     Most of the poems were quite random and didn't have any specific rhyme or structure. They weren't lyrical and were like regular sentences with weird spacing. The feminist message wasn't anything new, I had been hearing the message for years now and I've accepted the ideals for a long time. It wasn't anything new for me. It's what I've been reading online and hearing in the media for years now. It was very Tumblr-aesthetic and I think it was just really frustrating to have something so powerful to be so underwhelming. I really wish that I loved this but I didn't. 

      The overall look of the book is really elegant and lovely, but the insides are kind of pretencious and unimpressive. This book had the potential to be really fantastic and powerful, but it felt cliche and the poetic devices weren't used right at all. I will probably see more of Rupi Kaur's work on Tumblr, but I probably won't go out of my way to read a full novel of her poetry...


Things That Made Up For the Lame:
~Rupi Kaur's passion
~The aesthetic
~The illustrations
~The few poems that I loved

Other Verse Novels That I've Reviewed:

• The Good Braider by Terry Farish ~ 3 stars
• Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams ~ 3 stars

I would love to read more novels in verse or even a collection of poems. If you would like me to read a book in verse or even recommend a specific poem, I would love to check out your recommendations. I love poetry and I love getting your recommendations. Comment down below or contact me through my social media! 

Happy reading!

Olivia 
~LivTheBookNerd~

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