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Wounds
Wounds: A Collaborative Memoir in Stories is about the triumphs and the pains experienced in Razel Jones, (African American) and Daniel Abbott's (Caucasian) collective journey toward cross-cultural navigation. Jones and Abbott explore the concepts of Race, Difference, and Cross-Cultural navigation through stories beginning with their youthful experiences in rural northwestern Michigan.
On the heels of the senseless, race-inspired murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, change is past due. The void of understanding Difference and the need for activists and allies in various forms is absolute. This book offers tools to enable the building of meaningful cross-cultural relationships, and to inspire activism and advocacy.
These true stories will cause those who have experienced similar racism to resonate with the cycles, behaviors, and responses. They will inspire allies to emotionally connect and dive deeper into realization of the patterns of oppression. All readers will grow in empathy, and be compelled to amp up efforts to be more anti-racist, culturally intelligent, and effective in standing against inequities.
On the heels of the senseless, race-inspired murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, change is past due. The void of understanding Difference and the need for activists and allies in various forms is absolute. This book offers tools to enable the building of meaningful cross-cultural relationships, and to inspire activism and advocacy.
These true stories will cause those who have experienced similar racism to resonate with the cycles, behaviors, and responses. They will inspire allies to emotionally connect and dive deeper into realization of the patterns of oppression. All readers will grow in empathy, and be compelled to amp up efforts to be more anti-racist, culturally intelligent, and effective in standing against inequities.
- GenresNonfiction
130 pages, Paperback
Published November 3, 2020
17 people are currently reading
1111 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 1, 2020
I could not put this book down! Daniel Abbott and Razel Jones share stories of their experiences growing up in a small community that had a limited understanding of the beauty of diversity. They speak on the generational micro-aggresions they encountered growing up; exposing their wounds, sharing their experiences of love and friendship, and empowering their readers to be the change. Razel and Daniel remind us that the change is easy; the change is not violence or the responsibility of one race.... its the responsibility of ALL people.. ALL humans. I admire their approach to conquering injustice. I'm INSPIRED to be the change. Thanks for writing this book!
October 2, 2020
The stories in Wounds are both vulnerable and powerful. Abbott and Jones' share their honest and raw experience of dealing with race in Michigan. I really admire their approach to a project like this. Their stories are unique, but intertwined in a very entertaining and enlightening way. As a high school English teacher, I'm looking forward to bringing this book to my classroom and sharing this with my students.
November 8, 2020
Simply put: Wounds is powerful and timely. I highly encourage others to read these powerful stories so eloquently shared by Razel and Daniel. Many of us are silently carrying similar experiences, our pain, our wounds. If you have not had these experiences, you almost certainly know someone who has, whether you realize it or not. I applaud Razel and Daniel for courageously sharing with us. These are the conversations we must continue to have.
December 23, 2020
I loved this book. The two authors are longtime friends, and their unique perspectives on race (Abbott is white, raised in part by a black family, with a black wife, and currently has a biracial family of his own; Jones is black, raised in a predominantly white town, and is also Abbott's brother-in-law) make this collection of essays much more complex than it otherwise would have been. The writing here is deeply heartfelt, authentic, and true. It also had a lot to teach about the qualities of maleness, and the roles ascribed to men both black and white. It's also a page-turner, which surprised me! I read it very quickly, and look forward to rereading.
It would be a great book to include in a syllabus: gender studies, racial issues, education, or first-year seminar type classes.
It would be a great book to include in a syllabus: gender studies, racial issues, education, or first-year seminar type classes.
November 24, 2020
Amazing and emotional...I literally put myself inside the book!! Super important for everyone to read!
December 31, 2020
Wow. SUCH important stories and an eye opener especially after 2020. Thank you for this book.
November 20, 2020
Review coming soon, just won the book and added it to my library
December 23, 2020
Beautifully written short stories/memoirs addressing racism in today's world, written by two authors: one black, one white. This collection is powerful and important. We can't change our world, unless we do it together and stand up for those around you. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone to read!
June 20, 2021
Memories and reflections from two authors - Razel Jones and Daniel Abbott. The alternating chapters format lets readers see their stories of growing up in small towns in western Michigan. Both share honest looks at how racism and prejudice have affected their lives and the lives of their families and friends. This book could be read in one sitting but I chose to read it over several days and reflect on what was written. We need to read books like this and take time to reflect on our own privileges to continue being part of solutions.
January 30, 2021
I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway! Thank you for sending it - I began reading it as soon as I received my copy!
Let me start off by saying that I really appreciated the length of this book. So often books will drag on and on and this one was the PERFECT length and the message was well received.
I loved the back and forth, the ebb and flow between Razel and Daniel felt very intentional and it was effortless to follow. So many eye opening messages that really significantly impacted me as the reader!
I definitely have recommended this book to others, and will continue to do so!
Let me start off by saying that I really appreciated the length of this book. So often books will drag on and on and this one was the PERFECT length and the message was well received.
I loved the back and forth, the ebb and flow between Razel and Daniel felt very intentional and it was effortless to follow. So many eye opening messages that really significantly impacted me as the reader!
I definitely have recommended this book to others, and will continue to do so!
September 25, 2021
I read "Wounds" and then joined the discussion with the authors through Bridge Book Club. The book is a complicated portrait of each of their lives written collaboratively from Black and White perspectives. The discussion and Q&A were a plus.
December 7, 2020
This was 3.5 stars for me. I liked the book and I loved the perspective of two males (one black/one white) growing up in small town Michigan and yes, it’s small town. Even Grand Rapids is small to me. Their stories spoke to me. They were powerful and had me on edge. I loved hearing how Daniel changed his life for the better. I loved hearing how Razel moved through life and somehow finding the strength to remain calm in certain situations. I don’t think i could.
However, there were things I didn’t like. Razel was organized with his chapters, but he went off on many, many tangents. For instance, he starts off talking about the coach aggressively singling out the black men on the team for writing his daughter (one sentence, maybe two) and then went off for several pages about the guy who may or may not have written the letter. I didn’t understand the chapter about his brother, because it just didn’t have anything to do with the theme of the book. I kept thinking he would have an incident with the police on the way to Michigan, but nothing happened. I am glad he made it there though. Daniel was not organized and kind of all over the place with timeline and stories and children and towns. I still didn’t understand him getting booted out of the marines. It seemed like the incident happened in boot camp, but I find out later that he graduated. Whereas Razel had a chapter about a family member that didn’t make sense, I would have liked more about Daniels parents and his kids. They were thrown in there with some minor explanation, but I think they do go with the theme of this book.
Both guys didn’t seem to have a flow with their chapters together. And maybe it’s because I like to read books with a clear timeline moving through the years and where there are located / experiencing.
I’m glad I read it and it does open my eyes to even more things. I liked how they ended the book saying what we could do for the better and not make the same mistakes of our past or even our present. I would recommend this book for people to understand what it’s like for two people to grow up in the same area, but with very different perspectives. It’s also a quick read, which helps.
However, there were things I didn’t like. Razel was organized with his chapters, but he went off on many, many tangents. For instance, he starts off talking about the coach aggressively singling out the black men on the team for writing his daughter (one sentence, maybe two) and then went off for several pages about the guy who may or may not have written the letter. I didn’t understand the chapter about his brother, because it just didn’t have anything to do with the theme of the book. I kept thinking he would have an incident with the police on the way to Michigan, but nothing happened. I am glad he made it there though. Daniel was not organized and kind of all over the place with timeline and stories and children and towns. I still didn’t understand him getting booted out of the marines. It seemed like the incident happened in boot camp, but I find out later that he graduated. Whereas Razel had a chapter about a family member that didn’t make sense, I would have liked more about Daniels parents and his kids. They were thrown in there with some minor explanation, but I think they do go with the theme of this book.
Both guys didn’t seem to have a flow with their chapters together. And maybe it’s because I like to read books with a clear timeline moving through the years and where there are located / experiencing.
I’m glad I read it and it does open my eyes to even more things. I liked how they ended the book saying what we could do for the better and not make the same mistakes of our past or even our present. I would recommend this book for people to understand what it’s like for two people to grow up in the same area, but with very different perspectives. It’s also a quick read, which helps.
October 15, 2020
Incredible book! I love the creative writing approach to such a heavy topic. Daniel, a white man and Razel, a black man share their real life stories of their experience with race from childhood to adulthood. The ebb and flow of their chapters that relive some same experiences in the same town in Michigan is fascinating to read. I found myself negotiating my busy schedule for more time reading the book. I wanted to keep reading but at the same time didn’t want the book to end! Definitely a book to read more than once, as the reader captures something new each time (I’ve read it 3 times). It’s a book that’ll aid in discussion and introspection regardless of identity. READ IT!
August 25, 2021
This is an important book. It helps bring home one of the most serious and critical issues we are grappling with as a society. The stories are compelling - sometimes sad, sometimes happy. Well-written and easy to read (i.e., "accessible"). Regardless of your human composition, you can/will learn from this work, in a positive way! Regardless of your stance on controversial matters that affect us today, this book provides insights that could help us to be better people and a better society for everyone!
June 1, 2021
The ways that society wounds the authors for being who they are.
I enjoyed reading this book because I live in West Michigan and can relate to the towns where the author's lived growing up. Both author's perspectives showed me ways that racism is experienced by black people and those who associate with them.
I enjoyed reading this book because I live in West Michigan and can relate to the towns where the author's lived growing up. Both author's perspectives showed me ways that racism is experienced by black people and those who associate with them.
May 15, 2021
Great stories
October 1, 2021
Very powerful memoir of our time. It will definitely deepen your understanding of what being a person of color really means in our country.
May 20, 2025
A memoir that read like pure fiction. Interesting and eye-opening. Super quick read.
October 9, 2021
Two men reflect on their upbringing and experiences in a western Michigan small town. Both are alienated. Though one is white and one black, the white one identifies as black. The wounds of the title are the wounds both incurred from the sometimes casual, sometimes intense/explicit racism inflicted on them as they grew up in Newaygo and White Cloud, Michigan.
The book is presented in alternating chapters written by Jones and Abbott. The authors call these chapters ‘stories’. They’re more accurately described as incidents, accompanied by reflection and commentary. They recount incidents such as Abbott’s riding in a car with three black friends and being pulled over by a Newaygo cop. Abbott, the white one, is instructed to sit on the curb while his three black friends are handcuffed and instructed to lie face down on the pavement. Their crime - driving while black. Around this incident the author wraps his explanation of his feelings and connects them to the way racism manifests itself in American society.
Wounds is a book that deserves our attention because of its honest, reflective presentation of the way racism and racist acts profoundly affect the psyche of the oppressed.
Wounds is also a book that would have benefited from some serious editing. It gets an A for effort and honestly, and a D for balance, style and readability. Examples abound. Both authors use too much of their allotted space to expound on the devastating effects of racism. Every word they write is true; not every word they write needs to be written. A good editor should help an author say more by saying less; Wounds does the opposite. Another stylistic shortcoming dampens book’s power. Both authors string together incomplete sentences ad nauseam. An occasional incomplete sentence brings power and directness to the message. A parade of incomplete sentences makes the piece sound fragmented, and creates the suspicion that the author doesn’t understand basic English sentence structure.
Despite its shortcomings, Wounds should find an audience. The reality of life in America is that racism continues to shape the experiences and the psyche of minorities in this country. We need the reminders that Wounds offers us.
The book is presented in alternating chapters written by Jones and Abbott. The authors call these chapters ‘stories’. They’re more accurately described as incidents, accompanied by reflection and commentary. They recount incidents such as Abbott’s riding in a car with three black friends and being pulled over by a Newaygo cop. Abbott, the white one, is instructed to sit on the curb while his three black friends are handcuffed and instructed to lie face down on the pavement. Their crime - driving while black. Around this incident the author wraps his explanation of his feelings and connects them to the way racism manifests itself in American society.
Wounds is a book that deserves our attention because of its honest, reflective presentation of the way racism and racist acts profoundly affect the psyche of the oppressed.
Wounds is also a book that would have benefited from some serious editing. It gets an A for effort and honestly, and a D for balance, style and readability. Examples abound. Both authors use too much of their allotted space to expound on the devastating effects of racism. Every word they write is true; not every word they write needs to be written. A good editor should help an author say more by saying less; Wounds does the opposite. Another stylistic shortcoming dampens book’s power. Both authors string together incomplete sentences ad nauseam. An occasional incomplete sentence brings power and directness to the message. A parade of incomplete sentences makes the piece sound fragmented, and creates the suspicion that the author doesn’t understand basic English sentence structure.
Despite its shortcomings, Wounds should find an audience. The reality of life in America is that racism continues to shape the experiences and the psyche of minorities in this country. We need the reminders that Wounds offers us.
September 20, 2021
Reading this for an online book club—and it’s a hard book to review. In terms of the purpose and content—the wounding of racism in Newaygo and White Cloud, Michigan—it’s spot on. I grew up near Newaygo, and both men speak to a mindset that’s been prevalent for a hundred years or more. Multiply that mindset times hundreds of little towns in America, and the collected stories and musings here are powerful indeed. Racism is such an ordinary thing that the people perpetrating it feel ‘normal.’
It feels almost churlish to critique the writing, which is highly personal and rambling. The book feels like sitting down with two men, one who feels like he must, at all times, represent. And the other man spends his time confessing. Together, the two streams don’t lead us to next steps or new thinking—and that’s a loss, because if anyone had ideas about addressing racism, head-on, it would be these guys.
Four stars.
It feels almost churlish to critique the writing, which is highly personal and rambling. The book feels like sitting down with two men, one who feels like he must, at all times, represent. And the other man spends his time confessing. Together, the two streams don’t lead us to next steps or new thinking—and that’s a loss, because if anyone had ideas about addressing racism, head-on, it would be these guys.
Four stars.
October 1, 2021
I participate in an online book club that brought this title to my attention and I'm very grateful for that. My background is unique and allowed me to readily relate to the experiences of both authors. It's quite likely that this wasn't an easy read for some but, if you've actually lived the Black experience (by birth or close association), you know the depth of emotion and the pain that comes with these recollections. I pray that the writing experience was ultimately cathartic for both authors. I enjoyed the reader's experience to the extent that I gave a 5-star rating.
October 24, 2021
The book started positively, but I was disappointed in how it deteriorated into a commentary on current events. As a teacher in White Cloud for years, I was hoping that I would see more positives about our little community.
November 26, 2021
Important book, at times difficult to read the personal impact of racially charged encounters. Thankful that the authors were willing to share their stories, including their pain and perspective, in order to start a conversation and challenge those of us in the greater community.
September 21, 2021
It was so something, I could not even...
October 4, 2021
Powerful read… so much to think about…
November 13, 2022
read this for school and it turned out to be a very good and empowering story
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews