![]() ![]() I couldn't turn pages fast enough I hardly dared take a breath.Ĭitizen astonished the book world when it landed on the shortlist for the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award in not one but two categories-criticism and poetry-the first time a book has done so in the history of the award. "Certain moments send adrenaline to the heart," she writes in her thoughtful, simmering style, "dry out the tongue and clog the lungs." Of the numerous such moments depicted in Citizen, what adrenalized me first were those charting the career of tennis champion Serena Williams, the prejudice she has faced every moment she steps onto the court. ![]() Interjecting cultural criticism with poetry-or rather, injecting poetry with criticism-Rankine carefully and methodically begins to unravel the tightly wound spool of anti-black racism in the United States. "This book!" Their experience became my own when I finally opened my copy. I first took notice of Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf Press) when booksellers and book lovers alike buzzed over it up and down my Twitter feed. ![]() A book that astonishes again must never be taken lightly. A book that astonishes is a book to share, to cherish, to revere. ![]()
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