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Ripe: Essays
“A deeply intimate meditation on millennial Black womanhood and a righteous indictment of how this country treats Black girls and women.” — Kirkus (starred review)
A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022
“Emotional range without consequence,” Negesti Kaudo writes in her debut collection, Ripe , is a privilege of whiteness. In these essays, she fights back, exhorting readers to follow her through fury, grief, love, and hope as she confronts what it means to own her Blackness and her body in contemporary America. A scathing and nuanced cultural critic, she disentangles intersections of race, class, pop culture, size, sexuality, and more in spaces where she always seems to be either too Black or not Black enough. From attending private school as a poor Black student to the evolution of her hair routine to being fat and sexual when society says she should be neither, Kaudo overlooks nothing as she names the ways that white America simultaneously denigrates and steals Black culture. Most of all, she writes against the idea that a Black woman’s anger makes her an “angry Black woman,” claiming full emotional range as her birthright and as a tool against injustice on her quest to find herself no matter how uncomfortable the journey.
A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022
“Emotional range without consequence,” Negesti Kaudo writes in her debut collection, Ripe , is a privilege of whiteness. In these essays, she fights back, exhorting readers to follow her through fury, grief, love, and hope as she confronts what it means to own her Blackness and her body in contemporary America. A scathing and nuanced cultural critic, she disentangles intersections of race, class, pop culture, size, sexuality, and more in spaces where she always seems to be either too Black or not Black enough. From attending private school as a poor Black student to the evolution of her hair routine to being fat and sexual when society says she should be neither, Kaudo overlooks nothing as she names the ways that white America simultaneously denigrates and steals Black culture. Most of all, she writes against the idea that a Black woman’s anger makes her an “angry Black woman,” claiming full emotional range as her birthright and as a tool against injustice on her quest to find herself no matter how uncomfortable the journey.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
242 pages, Paperback
Published April 18, 2022
3 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 11, 2022
3.5 stars
'The difference between maturation and evolution is that the latter typically only gets better, more advanced; whereas the former implies that eventually one rots and dies.'
Kaudo writes her experiences with clarity and a purpose of reflection that immediately pulls her readers in. Here she shares her most vulnerable and volatile moments, searching for her history and the story of her family, existing within a Black, female, and racialised body, navigating the stereotypes and fetishization that are wild contradictions in this society.
With each essay, writer and reader travel the myriad ways that Black women have been used, abused, gaslit; how they have risen, fought, been conflicted, and carved out their own paths and identities.
There were essays that showed her rhythm and poetic bent, with style and flow that almost belied the seriousness of the issues she was speaking to.
'The difference between maturation and evolution is that the latter typically only gets better, more advanced; whereas the former implies that eventually one rots and dies.'
Kaudo writes her experiences with clarity and a purpose of reflection that immediately pulls her readers in. Here she shares her most vulnerable and volatile moments, searching for her history and the story of her family, existing within a Black, female, and racialised body, navigating the stereotypes and fetishization that are wild contradictions in this society.
With each essay, writer and reader travel the myriad ways that Black women have been used, abused, gaslit; how they have risen, fought, been conflicted, and carved out their own paths and identities.
There were essays that showed her rhythm and poetic bent, with style and flow that almost belied the seriousness of the issues she was speaking to.
October 7, 2022
A poignant collection of essays attesting to the power of emotions. For Kaudo, being a black woman in today's society is nothing less than political. Every movement, every moment, every action or inaction is viewed as important or revolutionary, even when she just wishes to simply exist. This collection feels like poetry at times, written eloquently and brashly and with styles everywhere in between.
A powerful and indicting series, perfect for riling you up and spurring you to action.
A powerful and indicting series, perfect for riling you up and spurring you to action.
June 20, 2022
This was an essay collection that felt, at times, like poetry. Negesti Kaudo shows herself: beautiful, complicated, and deep. She leaves an indelible mark on the times. In showing herself, she shows us ourselves.
Want to read
March 27, 2022Kirkus books that challenge white supremacy
October 14, 2022
I’m up at 1 am on a work day, scrambling to read this and I love it. The words, the prose. My heart bloomed ♥️
October 1, 2023
Real, raw, and so true at times it hurt.
September 13, 2022
I walked into Swem on FDOC and didn't know what to do with my time, so I picked a random book off the shelf to read in one sitting.
This book really floats at a 3.5 for me, but I'm rounding up because I love to see a black woman win.
But to be honest, the day I read yet an essay about how important our hair is as black women that actually makes me feel some kind of way other than, like, generally aware of the stuff that is coming out of my scalp, will be a great day indeed.
This book really floats at a 3.5 for me, but I'm rounding up because I love to see a black woman win.
But to be honest, the day I read yet an essay about how important our hair is as black women that actually makes me feel some kind of way other than, like, generally aware of the stuff that is coming out of my scalp, will be a great day indeed.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews