The heart wants what the heart wants, and our hearts want books.

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Even though we’ve been ‘snowed in’ all week, there’s still been about a thousand ways we’ve been ‘overthinking’ things in our lives.  It doesn’t help that this week’s book review is an emotionally heavy read that got us sandwiching in extra fiction titles for a brain-break. March’s Virtual Book Club read is a short, non-fiction title, by that most-readerly of authors, Anne Bogel, so sign up here to join us, and don’t OVERTHINK the commitment!  We’ll gather at 7:30 p.m. CST on Friday, March 26 to discuss Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life.

Unlike the majority of our book review posts-or posts in general – Nikki is not taking the lead on our review of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, so our format is going to be a little flipped today. I hope you’re ready, because I had a really hard time in formulating a post that doesn’t read like an academic paper. ::waves:: Hi, name is Ashley and I have a degree in History. It is the reason why author bio- and biblio-graphical research is in my weekly purview. Before author Isabel Wilkerson became a household name with her 2010 debut title, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, she won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, when she was Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Her accomplishments and accolades include the National Humanities Medal, a National Book Critics Circle Award and NAACP Image Award for The Warmth of Other Suns, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and professorships at Universities across the country including Emory, Princeton, Northwestern, and Boston University’s College of Communication. Check out her 2017 TED Talk here, about the power of a single decision. She’s a native of Washington D.C.

Caste is an emotionally heavy read, be prepared. But, it is so well written that you don’t realize in the process of reading it that it is an impeccably researched academic manuscript. It is narrative nonfiction that interweaves personal anecdotes with academically minded interviews. It’s no wonder that Oprah chose it as her 2020 Summer Book Club Pick and calls it “required reading for all of humanity.” I am going to second Oprah on this one. I have gotten into the habit of paying a lot of attention to the table of contents in all of the books I read lately, particularly the nonfiction titles. This is a learned habit and something I highly recommend to those taking intentional control of their reading lives. You can figure out a lot about a book by the way it is structured. Caste is separated into seven parts and thirty-one chapters. Wilkerson covers the three most well-known global caste systems: India, America, and Nazi Germany by formulating the Eight Pillars of Caste that are found within all three. These Pillars are: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature, Heritability, Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating, Purity versus Pollution, Occupational Hierarchy, Dehumanization and Stigma, Terror as Enforcement, and Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority.  It would take too many words to explain which each of these mean, and Wilkerson obviously does a much better job in each of these topics. If you’d enjoy more in-depth discussion on the eight pillars, join Oprah and Wilkerson on Oprah’s Book Club Podcast which has eight episodes exploring the pillars of caste. I want to, instead, focus on a couple quotes/sections that really got me into my thoughts and feelings.

Let’s focus in on “Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste.” Wilkerson discusses how the highest caste, in America that would be white people if you were actually wondering about that, live with the reassurance from the images of themselves in the media that they are the “default-setting of normalcy, of intellect, of beauty, against which all others are measured” and those others are constantly found wanting. “History has shown that nations and groups will conquer, colonize, enslave, and kill to maintain the illusion of their primacy,” which is group narcissism. Social Theorist Takamichi Sakurai wrote: “Group narcissism leads people to fascism. An extreme form of group narcissism means malignant narcissism, which gives rise to a fanatical fascist politics, an extreme racialism.” This is seen in both Nazism and the American Caste system. In the American system it has its history in the eugenics hierarchy of presumed value. At one time not so long ago in American history, being from or having immigrant family members from Ireland or Italy put you only one rung higher in the caste system than the lowest rung of African-Americans, and even then there were layers upon layers of hierarchy involved. The only thing I could think of when reading these passages is that the thing that exacerbates these imaginary hierarchies are ancestry/DNA tests. The only people I find who actually care about ‘where in the world’ your DNA comes from are those who, on some level, want to, as said above, maintain the illusion of their primacy in the caste system. I can’t tell you how many times I have answered “I’m an American” or “I come from New Orleans” to the annoyance of whatever white person is asking me “what are you?” – when they really want to know from which area in Europe my immigrant ancestors hailed. I don’t find that I am any better or worse of a person by fixating on my ‘heritage,’ and those facts have not helped or hindered me in any way besides inherently sticking me in the highest caste by making me a white woman living in America.

I want to leave you with a quotation from chapter two which hit me really hard as both an old house lover and a Realtor:

“With an old house, the work is never done, and you don’t expect it to be. America is an old house. We can never declare the work over. Wind, flood, drought, and human upheavals batter a structure that is already fighting whatever flaws were left unattended in the original foundation. When you live in an old house, you may not want to go into the basement after a storm to see what the rains have wrought. Choose not to look, however, at your own peril. The owner of an old house knows that whatever you are ignoring will never go away. Whatever is lurking will fester whether you choose to look or not. Ignorance is no protection from the consequences of inaction. Whatever you are wishing away will gnaw at you until you gather the courage to face what you would rather not see.” 

And isn’t that the crux of all inner work in becoming a better human? Let’s do the hard work and not ignore the issues that won’t go away. Only we can fix the structural issues our ancestors built into the foundations of our old house before they get any worse.

~Ashley

Dear readers, I wasn’t sure what I expected Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson to be, but it’s so much more.  Ashley’s also gotten me in the habit of reading the table of contents before digging into a book just to see what’s there (and sometimes knowing roughly when to expect the ending of a story or text is helpful too, especially in a nonfiction book with lots of endnotes), so I was very intrigued by the structure (in a good way, which isn’t always the case), but also the comparisons in the titles of the parts and the chapters.  In case you hadn’t already picked up on this, I tend not to read marketing copy as a rule.  I hear about books from other readers, and perhaps read a review or two, and then it lands on my TBR list.  

Just from the title I knew there was going to be a connection to India, but I didn’t see the Nazi connection coming, and in retrospect, as Wilkerson explains, it makes perfect sense, and it’s also horrifying.  The horror isn’t just what Nazis did to those they perceived to be in the subordinate caste, but how they came up with their methods.  Just as our forefathers looked at the structure of governments that came before ours, the Nazis looked at caste systems that came before theirs, specifically American slavery.  Wilkerson removed my blinders to this reality and several more pieces of information that I knew, but hadn’t connected previously.

I think that is what makes Caste so important.  Wilkerson outlines parallels across time and distance, some intentional and others not, which helps readers to see with new eyes.  I’m not unfamiliar with the evils of slavery in America and the Jim Crow era, nor am I unfamiliar with the plight of the Dalits, but how the Nazis designed their purity scheme, their evaluation of the brutalities of American slavery, and what they thought of the tragic history of those centuries, that was new to me.  It is those snippets of information that really make this book shine, because of the alignments that are right there, if only you make the connection, and Wilkerson handles the heavy lifting and then some.  She does it with the skill, precision, and bluntness of a journalist, and keeps doing it through the whole book.  There is no apology, there’s information and analysis.  

Generally I gravitate towards fiction, because I want to learn through stories rather than research, but as Ashley said, this is both stories and research, masterfully woven together.  Caste is the story of Dalits, Jews, and African Americans, the story of how they have been failed by the rest of us, written by a thorough researcher, an impressive journalist, and a fantastic writer.  I’m not likely to read this again, because, let’s be real, it’s not a fun hang, but it is important.  I’m glad I read Caste, and I’ll be recommending it and referencing it.  Caste explains how we got here, so now the question is how do we dismantle our caste system?  I don’t have all the answers, but I’m thinking one relationship created and one stereotype debunked at a time.  

~Nikki 

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Dear readers, we have some silly (Nikki) and some serious (Ashley) for you today.  We hope you enjoy the contrast, but just in case you need the abridged version, You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson is the book we needed in high school, and it just might be the book the high school student in your lives needs now.  

Sometimes we all feel the need to pretend to be someone else, or at least put on some armor.  Thinking about the masks we wear and the armor we don is at times liberating and challenging, but also vulnerable.  Rhys plays games, Ianthe is more than meets the eye, and Feyre has to fight to find herself (but really, what 19 year old doesn’t?).  What masks does Nesta wear?  What do Azriel’s shadows hide?  And WHAT is in Cassian’s box!?  If you have a theory about any of the above, or anything else related to Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series  we want to hear it at our next Virtual Book Club on Friday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. CST.  Sign up here to receive all the details on Friday, including to learn if Nikki does or does not finish her reread of all 3.5 books before book club.  If you’re following along on Goodreads, you’ll get an early answer, and you already know Ashley’s ready to go!  

To serious readers who aren’t amused by our love of A Court of Thorns and Roses, I’m mostly sorry about what’s about to happen and won’t be offended it you skip down to Ashley’s fantastic section.  She challenged me, and I just couldn’t back down because I was too excited.  #blameAshley [Please see Ashley’s statement below.]

I love a good underdog story, so when Leah Johnson takes a Black high school senior who’s been gut-punched by life time and time again, not unlike our darling Feyre, and suddenly she needs to win prom queen for all the right reasons, I am here for You Should See Me in a Crown.  Liz doesn’t care about being in prom court, unlike the rest of her small town, who think prom is the biggest of big deals.  Liz needs the scholarship money to attend the school she’s dreamed of, the school her mom attended, where her mom wanted her to go too, before she passed away.  The story takes us through the seven weeks of the prom season at Campbell County High during which we get to know Liz, her friends, and the others who are running for prom court.  This is a high school story, and it reads like one, big and full of feelings, but also cringe worthy in so many ways for those of us who are past those days.  It’s really not dissimilar from rereading Under the Mountain because it’s so dramatic as Liz and Feyre realize that the powers-that-be will make space for you, but you’re “going to have to demand it” and then fight for it too, with a little help from your friends, of course.  

When you’re fighting for your space, you definitely need a friend who thinks you should always wear a crown, and that’s where Britt comes in.  Johnson writes such amazing descriptions of the campaign materials for prom court and they fit the characters.  In each of Liz’s posters, Britt shows Liz wearing a crown, because she’s deserving of it from day one, just as Rhys has a crown for Feyre from the first day he has the twins dress her Under the Mountain.  Dress for the job you want… or maybe it’s visualize the win, but doubling down doesn’t hurt in this case.

Crowns always make me think of princesses, and at my age, the princesses I grew up with were Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora.  I’m with Feyre and Liz, I’d rather be Anna, Elsa, Merida, Mulan, Moana, or any other princess who goes out and gets things done rather than waiting around to be saved (although I would not turn down mice or woodland creatures who helped clean, the princesses of my childhood do have that going for them).  Liz calls Campbell “A fairy tale for some, and a nightmare for the rest of us…  #EffYourFairyTale” which seems a lot like Feyre’s view too, especially in the House of Beasts, the first section of my personal favorite, A Court of Mist and Fury.  It’s another reminder to be conscious of the different perspectives.  Rhys thinks he’s the villain of the story, Tamlin thinks he’s the hero and Feyre is “his reward for not dying of stupidity and arrogance,” but Feyre forgot to tell Rhys “…the villain is usually the person who locks up the maiden and throws away the key…He was the one who let [her] out.”  We can debate each male’s time spent playing the villain on Friday, but they have different narratives informing and guiding them, just as we are guided by Feyre, and by Liz.  

Dear readers, here’s the thing, sometimes you read a book and you know it’s amazing, but it just didn’t hit you at the right time.  This is the way I feel about Are You There God?  It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume.  I’m still disappointed in all the adult readers in my life for not putting that book in my hands when I was close to Margaret’s age.  Similarly, You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson got to me too late, but it’s not too late for the high school students in your life.  It seems silly for a crown to be such a big deal in this community, but the history and the continued interest of the alumni in this small town are part of the bigger problem Liz faces.  Liz is an “other” in so many ways in Campbell, and through this well-told tale, we see how she has the list of “other” boxes checked, but those around her also have a box or two checked off.  I think it is so essential for young people in the throws of high school drama to realize that everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE feels like they’re on the outside at some point, even if some people do have more obstacles put in front of them than others.  Liz gets to know people from different social groups during her time running for prom court (just as Feyre does during that multi-day, drama filled meeting at Thesan’s place), and she realizes that everyone has something that makes them feel like they’re on the outside at some point.  Does Liz have more to overcome?  Most definitely.  She’s also got a group of friends who adore her, get it on a different level, and want to help her.  Just as the Court of Dreams helps Feyre to figure out who she is now, Liz has her people to support her and help her, and they both have someone who knows they deserve to wear a crown, and that’s the dream folks, finding your people.  May you all find your people who, twenty years later will read a book because you’re excited about it, and then fan with you over it, launch a blog to put the text conversations you’re already having on the internet for more people to join in, and start a book club, on a whim, during a pandemic, and then challenge you to incorporate the similarities from that book that started it all to a very different one just because it’s entertaining to you both.  And may you buy those people a crown, or a witch hat, as they wish.  Just don’t forget to deliver it, like me.  

I hope you all have enjoyed this adventure, and I hope you read and recommend You Should See Me in a Crown to young people in your life.  I give it 3.5 stars, with a round up to 4, and I won’t likely reread it, but I’m very glad I did and I’m highly likely to recomnend it!

~Nikki

For the record, dear readers, there was no official challenge thrown at Nikki about combining You Should See Me in a Crown and the A Court of Thorns and Roses series that we have been reading for Virtual Book Club. Regardless of what was actually said in that text conversation [Nikki here: Ashley started it and I stand by that.],  Nikki’s reaction was:

 And, Nikki crushed it. I feel woefully inadequate in my ability to contextualize this book any better, so I’ll focus on what I do know. Leah Johnson is a debut author who’s here to stay. Her sophomore novel, Rise to the Sun, is slated to come out in June this year. And her website bio states she loves The Mighty Ducks – “the greatest underdog sports film of all time.” Y’all know how I feel about hockey and Canadians (Joshua Jackson is Canadian even if he plays a Minnesotan in the film). Which she wrote about for catapult online magazine, here. You Should See Me in a Crown was the inaugural Reese’s Book Club YA pick, 2021 Stonewall Honor Book, 2020 Junior Library Guild Selection among numerous other honors and accolades.

Additionally, while reading some more of her essays Johnson is HARDCORE killing me with the feels. Her essay on electricliterature.com titled “How Young Adult Literature Taught Me to Love Like a White Girl” really gets this bookish girl thinking. Nikki has admitted multiple times that she feels slighted that no one gave her Judy Blume to read as a middle schooler and maybe that’s not such a terrible thing to think about with a little introspection. Why give our (white) girls more books that just reiterate their own lived experience? Why not give them a book that helps them explore the inner lives of people who don’t look, live, or possibly love in the same way they do? It’s the same reason Nikki and I, as adults, purposefully seek out diversity in our reading life. We want to understand how people who don’t look like us experience life. I was really struck by her essay about Peter Kavinsky in All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and how he is every white boy that she has spent her adulthood getting over because white boys were the only boys she was told was worthy of chasing/giving your love to in all the young adult and romance books she read during her formative years. It got me thinking about one of the girls in the Girl Scout Troop I led years ago, one of two black girls in the troop, and how she loved Justin Beiber. This was that many years ago at the beginning of the Beiber-fever craze, and now, looking back, I wonder if she really did enjoy his music, or if perhaps she wanted to be as cool as her friends who were also experiencing the joys of being a fan-girl. Was the music and personality of Justin Beiber (another Canadian, eh) what and who she wanted to love or was it what the culture she was surrounded with told her she should want to love? Why wouldn’t the culture give her any Black young men that sang songs without explicit lyrics about “One Less Lonely Girl,” and be slated for musical collaborations with huge name artists of color, in no particular order: Ludacris, Sean Kingston, Mariah Carey, Jaden Smith, Big Sean, Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Tyga, among many others. I bet y’all already know the answer to that, and this was just ten years ago.

This. Is. Why. It. Is. Important. To. Put. Everyone’s. Story. In. Print. And in music. And on film. 

In reading these essays, I see that Johnson wrote the book that she was never given to read as a young girl. A story about a young, Mid-Western, black girl, with a sick family member (read the heartbreaking story in her Mighty Ducks essay where she talks about being fifteen-years-old and using her learner’s permit to drive her mother to the emergency room during an asthma attack and not cry, I freaking dare you) who falls in love with a joyful red-headed girl who drives a Jeep (you know that got me right in the feels, y’all), and gets the happily ever after she’s BEEN WORKING FOR. I’m going to give Johnson’s debut, You Should See Me in a Crown, a solid 4 stars, and I also won’t be re-reading it. But I most certainly will be looking for opportunities to recommend it to the people in my life, especially the young ones who need to be able to see themselves in the characters. I’ll probably read Johnson’s work in the future, and especially be on the lookout for any adult titles she might release.

~Ashley

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