"Thick: And Other Essays" by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Ginger: helped give me a better understanding of what others experience

United States on Sep 17, 2023

S. Weatherspoon: The book covers important topics relevant to the black female experience such as beauty, money, infant mortality, and sexual violence. She is a poetic writer. She pushed my thinking especially in the beauty and sexual violence areas. The infant mortality price broke my heart. She is an extremely talented writer. I read the book in one day which I haven’t done in years. Job well done.

United States on Jun 04, 2023

red: This book was one person vomiting their opinions no substance to the text. A depressing read that only serves to further push the image of black women as the victimised down trodden unattractive hard done by discriminated individual. Waste of money. Book is now in the bin.

Weak author. Writing from opinion and personal experience yet passing this off as speaking for all black women. Lazy writing

United Kingdom on Apr 01, 2022

Rebecca Blanton: I have been a fan of Dr. Cottom for a while now. I finally got around to reading this for a new book I am working on. Thick is a powerhouse of a book. The analysis is amazing, providing insight and advancing the conversation beyond most work in this area. I found myself saying, "Yes!" and "Exactly!" and "Wow, I really need to consider this!" throughout my reading. It is so great to finally read a book around bodies, race, and capitalism and get excited about my own work. Makes me wish I was still teaching in university. Would love to have all my students read and discuss this work.

United States on Nov 30, 2021

mariana klober da silveira: Achei perfeito. Ali em poucos dias. Tem as linhas bem espaçadas e a letra grande. Uma leitura que me deixou agoniada em relação ao mundo em que vivemos. Me senti dentro da pele da autora.

Brazil on Apr 23, 2021

Danielle: I had heard so many great things about this book and I'm pleased that those reviews held up. Tressie is a very descriptive writer and her ability to paint and create this images and situations and dialogues that allowed me to connect to her and other women who use the same types of comb as me (add she mentioned in the book) made this book of essays highly endearing and very enjoyable. I learned a few new things as well and that's always a plus. I'm glad to have finally experienced this book.

United States on Mar 14, 2021

WU.: Let me be completely honest here: I should not have had the privilege to read this book. Period.

Really, at times I felt as if I was eavesdropping on a conversation not meant for my ears, but one I needed to hear all the same: it's powerful stuff, dripping with wit, intelligence, sublime prose, and so much clarity you'd swear you could almost see into the future.

So. Yeah, ok, maybe a middle-class adult hispanic male has no business reading about black womanhood, whiteness, rape culture, and issues of class-belonging: social status anxieties involving the poor, deeply stratified, and less upward mobile segments of our society. But as John Donne wrote, "No man is an island..." Are you following here?

Thick is about all of the above. But more. Immeasurably more. It's about the human experience of finding oneself measured by the dominant values of a myopic, image-driven, self-reinforcing capitalist culture, and being found wanting: maybe today is your hair, but tomorrow is your clothes, or perhaps your accent, or your level of education, or what about your weight?...

I'm glad we still have intellects of the caliber of Tressie McMillan running around...

United States on Feb 12, 2019

Alison: If you don't read Tressie McMillan Cottom, you're depriving yourself of foundational insights that should be informing your worldview. She's a non-negotiable, must-read thinker. Gift the book to yourself and to a friend.

Canada on Jan 09, 2019