Every once in a while I come across a book that is so much more than I expected. This was one such book. I had heard good things, and I’d read part of Jacob’s previous book and admired her writing style, but I went into this without too much in the way of expectations.On the surface it’s a simple book. I loved the illustrations – they’re a style I enjoy and work well with the ideas and writing. But it was the text that really got to me.
Jacob opens up and shares her experiences as the child of immigrant parents (her parents came to the United States from India), and as the mother of a bi-racial child. She talks about all kinds of things – micro-aggressions she experiences at work and in her day-to-day life, large chasms of ignorance (largely in the case of her parents-in-law) and smaller but still significant examples of how white people don’t understand the ways in which racism exists around them, because it’s not directed at them, even if they love and share their lives with people of colour. It’s a great way, as a white person myself, to become aware of how some of these experiences felt for her, how she struggled to deal with them, and what worked and didn’t for her.
In the end, what I really got from this book was how much is going on all around us all the time, and how much of it we’re simply not aware of – no matter our background or perspective. No one’s experiences are the same, and it can be difficult to learn how to interact respectfully and sensitively. It also shows how many people don’t really try. And in it I felt the constant gnawing fear I carry as a parent, the fear that I can’t protect my daughter from everything bad in the world. And she’s a privileged white kid growing up in a safe part of the world with everything she needs. That fear is inescapable, and with the state of the world, I can’t even imagine how much it is amplified for non-white parents in America.
Jacob has a gift for writing and for evoking strong feeling in her readers. There were many times I paused to re-read a section because the way she placed her words was just so beautiful. Its message is made that much more powerful by its delivery.
I think this book is an important one. It was easy to read, and quick, but man has it left impression. I want to press it into the hands of everyone I know, and everyone I don’t, because I think it’s that vital. I wish everyone could see what life looks like from other people’s point of view – the world would be a much better place. This is a great place to start.
Mira Jacob’s touching, often humorous, and utterly unique graphic memoir takes readers on her journey as a first-generation American. At an increasingly fraught time for immigrants and their families, Good Talk delves into the difficult conversations about race, sex, love, and family that seem to be unavoidable these days.
Inspired by her popular BuzzFeed piece “37 Difficult Questions from My Mixed-Raced Son,” here are Jacob’s responses to her six-year-old, Zakir, who asks if the new president hates brown boys like him; uncomfortable relationship advice from her parents, who came to the United States from India one month into their arranged marriage; and the imaginary therapy sessions she has with celebrities from Bill Murray to Madonna. Jacob also investigates her own past, from her memories of being the only non-white fifth grader to win a Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest to how it felt to be a brown-skinned New Yorker on 9/11. As earnest and moving as they are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, these are the stories that have formed one American life. – Goodreads
Book Title:Â Good Talk
Author:Â Mira Jacob
Series: No
Edition:Â Hardback
Published By:Â One World
Released:Â March 26, 2019
Genre:Â Graphic, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Race, Family
Pages:Â 349
Date Read:Â February 22-23, 2020
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating:Â 4.47/5 (7,443 ratings)
