Brilliant, insightful, and heartbreaking. This touched so many topics and emotions. Darrin Bell depicts a picture of his life that is raw, true, and strong. He sees the world in a realistic light and shows people what some try to ignore when it comes to race and life in America. He takes the topics that make some people uncomfortable and sheds light on them. This audiobook was amazing and a great addition to the incredible graphic novel.

Oof. This book is a tough read. Told from the point of view of a young black man, we get to hear the conversations he has with his parents over the years about how to protect himself in the world we live in. Heartfelt and heartbreaking, this account shows the confusion as he tries to understand why things are the way they are. Of course, it's impossible for his parents to hide what is happening, because he needs to know how to protect himself. We get to hear about real events that take place in the world and he expresses how alone he feels dealing with some of them.
I got to listen to this audiobook thanks to NetGalley, and the performers were fantastic. There were also background effects that made the effect more dramatic.
In the end, he is a dad talking to his own kid, trying to figure out how to have the talk. How do you explain something like George Floyd? I hope more people read this to try to understand how important this is.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Darrin Bell, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrators of this audiobook are Brittany Bradford, Darrin Bell, Emyree Zazu Bell, and William DeMerrit. This is an extremely high quality audio production of this graphic novel. With multiple narrators this felt really respectful of the subject matter. This could appeal to older grade school aged children.

The beginning of this audiobook is haunting, "For Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin,...." each name read by a separate narrator or in a different voice. What a beautiful homage to those we've lost to police and other white supremacist violence.

This is an example of how Black parents and guardians in the US speak to their children about race. I'm sure this is replicated by other cultures but I myself received this talk from my Black father. I had this talk with my own Black daughter. I've had versions of this talk with my 2 oldest grandkids, aged 8 & 7. This must be discussed early and often especially if you live in primarily white areas.

The author remembers when his mother had the talk with him around a water gun she purchased him. He's now an adult and a father himself trying to decide if his son is old enough for the talk. This is heavy, important but weighty.

Sometimes it feels like books like this aren't for Black folks. These books feel like they're written for white folks so they can understand the stress of living under racism on Black folks. I don't think this type of narrative fights racism. This puts me in mind of Stokely Carmichael's quote, "Dr. King's policy was that nonviolence would achieve the gains for Black people in the United States. His major assumption was that if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That's very good. He only made one fallacious assumption: In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none."

This type of narrative requires the reader to care about Black children. We already know that not even liberals really care about our kids. We have open policies in states to protect the feelings of white children. These folks are not going to care about this book beyond it being banned from their children's access. So I feel like this almost falls under Black violence porn. It doesn't move the mark on the fight against racism for the same reason systemic racism exists, white folks aren't going to be guilted out of harming us.

So we're just gonna have to force change. After which white folks will pat themselves on the backs congratulating themselves on solving the problem they caused in the first place. Totally ignoring that we forced the issue at great cost to ourselves and our communities. These are the same folks who want police at Pride because they don't know the original Pride was a fight against police. History just has to march right over these folks without bothering to appeal to their nonexistent conscience.
The use of the term 'folks' in this review refers to US folks.

Thank you to Darrin Bell, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

This was such a fun audiobook. Not because of the topics because there were lots of heavy topics… but more so for the transitions and the theatrics of the reading of this book from the multiple narrators. This is a book I would definitely recommend to a young Black male because I believe although I know these things happen all to often, they could relate more to it.

The Talk is a moving and frank look at the reality of growing up black in the USA by Pulitzer Prize winner Darrin Bell. Released 6th June 2023 by Macmillan on their Henry Holt imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Dialogue is important, vital, to change and awareness. There is so much aggressively unresolved trauma surrounding race in the USA which people haven't been able to process. This is an expressive and often heartbreaking autobiographical graphic novel about the author's lived experience growing up in the 80s in Los Angeles.

It's a plain-spoken monograph on generational trauma; from his mother's refusal to buy him a realistic gun-looking water pistol to his own adult need to have "The Talk" with his own son. It's profound and heartbreaking.

The unabridged audiobook is due out from Macmillan Audio 27th Aug 2024 and has a run time of 3 hours 20 minutes and is read by an ensemble cast. It has an enhanced soundtrack with some music and sound effects. The voices narrating (including the author and his son, voicing themselves in the story) are untrained for voice work and very effective. It's unaffected, often raw, moving, and so sad (but ultimately strong and impressive in the sheer perseverance of existing and thriving in the face of naked racism).

Five stars. This is a superlatively illustrated and well written important book. It would make a great selection for public and school library acquisition, although it will likely be the subject of banning, challenge, and censure in some areas of the USA.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.