Reviews

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

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emilyjaco25's review against another edition

5.0

I think this is a must read for anyone looking to make the world a better place. Lorde’s words are beautiful and strong. Essential.

bhnmt61's review against another edition

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5.0

This collection of speeches and essays by poet Audre Lorde was first published in 1984. I’ve heard about it for years, but never read it. Like all essay collections, there are some that work better than others. The least successful essay (imo) is the first one, about her trip to Russia in the 70s, long before the age of Putin and Russian hackers. But some of the other essays are SO good that I highlighted two-thirds of the text— and I am not usually someone who highlights at all. She is just brilliant. Even forty years later, she is relevant and deeply thought provoking. What an immense heart, and a passionate voice. Highly recommended. Skim if you get bogged down in one essay, because the next one will be brilliant.

outcolder's review against another edition

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5.0

True solidarity requires a lot of soul searching. It is easy to hold in your head a mantra like "we should unite" but in practice it is hard not to constantly get knocked around by our own anger, self-hatred, failure to recognize our own role as oppressors, and a bunch of other stuff I probably didn't get with only one hurried reading.

This book is dense and on every page there is at least one line that can shake the reader with its sudden clarity. It takes a poet to find words for the things we are not supposed to notice.

Before reading this, I had a lot of wrong ideas about what was going to be in this book. I have read about essays like "Uses of the Erotic: the Erotic as Power" and "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," but I had the wrong impression. Yes she is writing poetically about epistemology, no I don't think she is essentializing gender or race.

This book wasn't written for people who look like me but I am so glad I read it anyway.

sandpiiper's review against another edition

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5.0

this radicalized me

peytondani's review against another edition

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5.0

incredible essays. i recommend this book to everyone, especially women. the lack of intersectionality in feminism on the basis of race, sexuality, and identity is not a new issue and while it’s making progress, there’s a lot of room
to grow. audre lorde’s words are very powerful on the subject. while she largely looks through the scope of intersectional feminism, the values and ideas in these essays can be applied to a universal range of goals when it comes to social justice and making the world a better place for everyone, regardless of our varying differences and oppressions.