Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
(Format used for this book: Audio)
Up until few years ago, my bookshelf was pretty racially and culturally homogenous when it came to authors.
Meaning…
Almost *ALL* the authors I read were WHITE….and either American or British.
That was about it.
This was not intentional….I seemed to just gravitate to what was “familiar” to me.
Which is a HUUUGE problem.
Because I NEEDED to be intentional.
There were a few BIPOC authors sprinkled in here and there…
But mostly…
It was Whitey McWhitetown on my shelves.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Ugh.
When I think of how much I missed out on all those years that I did not seek out diversity in my books…DAMN.
My ignorance and subconscious biases stood in the way of SO MUCH learning,listening and growth I could have had— as well as understanding and empathy I could have begun to develop.
I urge you to take some time and look at your own bookshelf/reading selections and examine which authors you gravitate towards.
If they all look the same, it’s time for you to open your eyes and mind and broaden your literary horizons.
My friend Jamila posted this on social media the other day about this very thing….listen to her words as she speaks into this MUCH better than me:
“Seek out Black Authors.
Buy their books.
Particularly in genre fiction.
And please don’t at me with this colorblind approach to media.
Colorblind selection is one thing in a world where all things are equal– but that isn’t this world.
Black authors have been actively gate kept out of genre fiction (and academia…and nonfiction) because ‘there is not a market for…’ which means ‘… white people won’t buy it.’
Things have gotten better, but there is still work to do, and stories to be told.
You can help correct this, and broaden your perspective by actively seeking out books from Black authors… recommending them to friends, buying them as gifts.
Books by Black authors are not just for Black people. Buy them, read them, decolonize your book shelf.”
You can start with this book…because WHEEEWWWW, yall….talk about a POWERFUL piece of fiction with a STRONG social commentary.
I described this to someone the other day as “hauntingly captivating” and that is exactly what it is.
Here is the official summary:
“In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives―a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth’s crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping―into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.”
I am always down for fictional books that are a bit dark, complicated, emotional and also multi layered.
That make a real life statement about our world while at the same time being a fictional story.
This book had ALL that.
It is a post apocalyptic cautionary tale of what very likely *could* happen to Earth (especially the U.S.) if we just keep on doing the SAME SHIT we been doing for all these years…it’s a disheartening preview to what things could become if we don’t make changes to our environment, our government, our systems, and OURSELVES.
There are numerous narrators in this audiobook–this story is told from multi POVs—which is always entertaining. But this time it was also very helpful too…the story jumps around in time and location so it was at times a little confusing. The multiple voices helped me get my brain to adjust and figure out what was going on.
This story takes a deep dive into analyzing the damage and destruction that colonization and gentrification take on not just individual human beings, but also on communities and geographical spaces at large.
People in power in this story (aka white people) literally take ESSENTIAL resources from those not in power to provide for their own comfort and safety…and even their own escape.
This story had me thinking…even if we burn down civilization as we now know it and rebuild a new one from the ground up, what ugliness will STILL come back? Even if we start completely over, what awfulness will we STILL hold onto?
The answer in this book is racism and classism..and what awful extents humans in power will go to to STAY in power.
White people of privilege literally just jump off the planet and run from the absolute MESS they created and colonize UP IN SPACE in this book…meanwhile leaving everyone else down here with zero resources and a crumbling enviornment to figure shit out on their own…or die trying.
Many DO figure out how to survive and rebuild…only to realize that the evil of whiteness creeps back in.
Civilizations have been built and rebuilt on the literal backs of black and brown people since the beginning of time…their blood, sweat, tears and pain form and reform the foundations of society….
Only to have whiteness come in–AGAIN and AGAIN–to claim it, overtake it, and then oppress and dehumanize the very ones who created it in the first damn place.
All the manual labor, the innovation, the creativity written over with a new, FALSE narrative…one that doesn’t just NOT give credit where credit is LONG due, but a false one is created where those who DO NOT deserve one damn thing get ALLLLL the damn things….and pushes the ORIGINAL creators and builders and laborers to the margins.
Such a disturbing, emotional and necessary story about survival, endurance and strength…a story that needs to be told and one we DEFINITELY need to listen to.
Please go read it….
And continue to decolonize those shelves. 📚
Books can change the world.