Review: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The pursuit of knowing was freedom to me, the right to declare your own curiosities and follow them through all manner of books. I was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people’s interests. The library was open, unending, free.

Page 48, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This book is eminently quotable. I feel like I could pick out something from every page that would be perfect as a quote. For my review here, I picked a quote regarding the pursuit of knowledge and libraries. I thought it appropriate since I read this book all in one sitting at a local library branch.

Coates writing here is poetic without being overwrought. There is a flow to the writing that feels just right. At one point in the book, Coates quotes a line from a Nas song and I found myself thinking that his writing is like Nas’ raps. Every word in the right place at the right time.

The book is written in the form of a letter to Coates’ son, an explanation his own life in the hopes of imparting understanding of the struggles of living life as a black man. It doesn’t pull punches, it is visceral in its pain, heart wrenching in its sadness, it is terrifying yet unrelenting in its defiant.

I am glad I read this book and I recommend it to everyone. As Toni Morrison puts it eloquently in her blurb on the front cover: This is required reading.