Title: Thick And Other Essays

Author: Tressie McMillan Cottom

Publisher: New Press 2019

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 244

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spring TBR

In these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom—award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed—embraces her venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society.

Ideas and identity fuse effortlessly in this vibrant collection that on bookshelves is just as at home alongside Rebecca Solnit and bell hooks as it is beside Jeff Chang and Janet Mock. It also fills an important void on those very shelves: a modern black American feminist voice waxing poetic on self and society, serving up a healthy portion of clever prose and southern aphorisms as she covers everything from Saturday Night Live, LinkedIn, and BBQ Becky to sexual violence, infant mortality, and Trump rallies. Thick speaks fearlessly to a range of topics and is far more genre-bending than a typical compendium of personal essays.

Essay collections are not usually my jam. I found that really enjoyed this collection more than most. We chose this for our May book club selection. I started the first essay and it was intense and dense. It felt more like academic writing than an accessible piece about race, gender, and identity. I was a bit hesitant to continue, but then the essay got a lot more accessible and interesting.. I was all in in hearing Cottom’s thoughts on a variety of topics. My favorite pieces detailed medical incompetence. While I cannot empathize with all of Cottom’s experience, I have followed the experiences of many women and their awful treatment in the medical establishments. I raged, I cried, and I laughed through this collection. Most definitely on the required reading list.

Next up on the TBR pile: