Ordinary Notes is a book by Christina Sharpe, published in April 2023 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.[1] The book is a collection of 248 notes about black life. It was shortlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction.[2]
The book received positive reviews by writers for Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, and others. Sharpe previously published In the Wake: On Blackness and Being in 2016,[3] and as of 2023, she is the chair of black studies at York University.[4]
Contents edit
Among its 248 notes are recollections of the presidency of Barack Obama; a discussion of Obama's response to the Charleston church shooting; an anecdote at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice; a discussion of Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida; and an analysis of a character in Toni Morrison's Beloved.[5]
Reception edit
The book received a positive review by Brendan Buck in Newcity, who praised Sharpe's writing as "not just personal or academic" but using an "inventive form" to discuss personal, academic, historical, and other facets of black identity.[6] Kirkus Reviews praised Sharpe's writing as "exquisitely original" and "artistry",[4] while Jennifer Szalai, writing for The New York Times views her collection of notes "as a rejoinder" to popular conceptions to black life.[3] A review by CBC Books labeled the book "a singular achievement" in writing about "the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life".[7]
Kirkus Reviews ultimately named Ordinary Notes one of the best non-fiction books of 2023.[8]
References edit
Citations edit
- ^ Kati 2023.
- ^ "National Book Award finalists announced". Books+Publishing. 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ a b Szalai 2023.
- ^ a b Kirkus Reviews 2023.
- ^ Kirkus Reviews 2023; Kati 2023; Szalai 2023.
- ^ Buck 2023.
- ^ CBC 2023.
- ^ Liebetrau, Eric (2023-11-19). "Best of 2023: Our Favorite Nonfiction". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
Works cited edit
- Buck, Brendan (24 April 2023). "More than the sum of its parts: A review of Christina Sharpe's Ordinary Notes". Newcity. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- Kati, Rebekah (1 March 2023). "Ordinary Notes". Library Journal. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- Szalai, Jennifer (19 April 2023). "In 'Ordinary Notes', a radical reading of black life". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- "Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe". CBC. 6 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
- "Ordinary Notes". Kirkus Reviews. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.