"My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education" by Jennine Capó Crucet (2019)

Capó Crucet's essay collection is a fascinating study of social politics during the 2016 Trump presidency. Though she travels back and forth through time periods in her life, they always end up at the same spot: the racial tensions and socio-political climate caused by the Trump administration. The core of the collection is Capó Crucet's analysis of race from the perspective of someone who has been placed on every level of the spectrum: treated as the racial majority, passing for another racial majority, and being a part of a racial minority. Capó Crucet's experiences of each of these shapes her analysis of the dangers that arise with a noted xenophobic racist in office.

Where the magic really arises in the collection is how Capó Crucet is able to find the metaphors for these complex, unpleasant issues within her own personal experiences. From the othering found as a first-gen student at an Ivy League institution to misconceptions (or inexperience) about white funerals and weddings, the center of each piece remains Capó Crucet as all the other themes seem to fall into place around her.

Looking back on this collection, it seems like a time capsule for an era no one (should) want to return to but continues lurking around the corner.

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris (2000)

Sedaris' essay collection is one filled with biting, dry humor. Unafraid to poke fun at himself and others, Sedaris shows an incredible ability to find the humor in death, addiction, and existential crises. His ability to characterize the people in his life through specific details helps translate the reality of them while also showing how interests, habits, and quirks can lend to the humor of everyday life.

The first part of the collection focuses primarily on his life growing up, coming of age, and discovering who he may want to be. The second part of the collection, primarily explores his new life in France with his partner, giving examples of Americanness outside of the American context. Through his own difficulties in learning the language, viewing Americans on vacation in Paris, and the juxtaposition between his view of events as a guy raised in the South and his partners' views as a child of American diplomats, Sedaris is able to paint what it means to carry one's culture and upbringing into a new "world."

Not enough good things can be said about this book and the insights it offers through the most unorthodox methods.

"How to Write an Autobiographical Novel" by Alexander Chee (2018)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Chee's essay collection, though framed as a craft book, is most alive when he isn't giving writing advice at all. In fact, his two essays dedicated to the writing process (one of which being the namesake of the collection) bring the momentum he builds in the other pieces to a halt.

From his discussions about being mixed race from an immigrant family (both living in America and Korea), his advocacy involvement in the AIDS/HIV crisis, being in NYC during 9/11, to his healing journey explored through writing and therapy, Chee is excellent at showcasing his autobiographical prowess. Chee is unflinching looking inward as he does not skew occurrences to paint him in a more flattering light, using historical parallels to help make sense of his internal (and at times external) crises. He takes horrific truths and makes them digestible, but never comfortable. The primary theme of the entire collection is "complexity." According to Chee no one is a clear hero or villain, privileged or disadvantaged, or even fully aware of who they are and what they are doing with their lives (or how that affects their place in the world). We exist in these essays alongside Chee, drifting in that nebulous grayness.

The layout of the collection is predominantly chronological for the first half, but as the essays progress the timelines begin slipping into one another, not unlike how we tend to remember things ourselves. If anything, this collection is pieced together through patterns: historical, personal, traumatic, and observed.

"A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid (1988)

Kincaid's "A Small Place" is a masterclass in blending history, culture, place, neocolonial critique, and autobiographical essay. De-romanticizing and re-centering the history of a place known, practically solely, for its tourism globally is no small feat, but Kincaid makes it look easy. While the book was written in 2008, there are details that show not only the lasting neglect of public spaces and care (the library, is the most notable example) over decades of administration after becoming a sovereign nation from the British. Her prose blends the reality of corruption, the impact of the British, the intergenerational trauma of slavery, personal experience, and shows how the current understanding of Antigua and its residents is shallow, only truly benefitting the colonial powers that brought Antigua to this place.

The last chapter/essay is perhaps the most dramatic. Kincaid zooms in on the "unreal beauty" of Antigua and illuminates the horrors that lurk in the shadows of that beauty. She continues by showing how each element of Antiguan life is representative of a colonial past. Speaking English, the newness of all surroundings that are free from "revolutions of any kind," Kincaid is showing the reader that a colonized nation, even if not currently under foreign rule, exists at the mercy of a culture, language, and belief system that was never representative of the native population.

When examining multicultural literature, particularly from non-Western authors, the perspective and lens offered by Kincaid is invaluable. Her analysis transcends economy, history, or culture as she uses the final moments of this powerful book to emphasize the scars that cannot be washed away from generation to generation.

"Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza" by Gloria Anzaldúa (1987)

Anzaldúa's "Borderlands/La Frontera" is informational, harrowing, dramatic, and sourlful. Remarkably, she is able to weave together essays and poems that inform the reader about her culture and how the modern understanding "Chicano" came to be. This book flows between Mexican, American, and Indigenous history into Anzaldúa's life, giving the writer a vivid picture of the foundation of her identity. To Anzaldúa, she is everything: an insider and outsider, indigenous and foreign, soft and strong.

This book has a lot of similarities to other female writers of color from this era: Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior" and Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" are the most recognizable. All three discuss culture, violence, gender and its expectations, whiteness, heritage, and Capitalism. For anyone who has read similar novels or collections, Anzaldúa's poetic, blunt yet purple language allows her to remain striking and individual. What emotions and images she doesn't have room to capture in her prose, she covers in the second half of the book with her poetry and lyrics, reminding the reader that her experiences are both individual and collective, reinforcing the theme of "everythingness" throughout the piece.