Lies We Tell Ourselves

i read the first 50 pages a few years ago and the subject was too heavy for me to read at the time but i finally got around to reading it and wooooow.

it's set in america in 1959 and its about the first black students attending an all white school. I'm australian so i didn't learn alot about american history but segregation in america was one of the things we did learn so i'm happy i had some info before starting this book.

I grew up in australia. Back in 1999 it was very white. I didn't know black people existed until 2011. I didn't have internet, The tv shows i watched were australian or british (aka very white) and i never saw a black person. ever. When i found out that people of other colours existed, i was confused because why haven't i ever seen them? A year later i found out that racism existed. i did not learn about any black history until i was 17. thats CRAZY. We were finally taught about the racism in america in 2016. TWENTY SIXTEEN!
My sister was born 2003 and i grew up thinking she was white (we have different dads) and its crazy how my childhood was so white and i didn't see any other colour even though it was right in front of my face. My sister is aborignal australia, shes from the OLDEST culture and civilisation in the world. She experiences racism every single day. From family, friends, school. She got in trouble for reporting the racism she endured at school. SHE got in trouble. Its like what Sarah endured during this book. The white people want POC to stay quiet and out of the way. Its clear to see its still happening today as i have my sister to tell me about the many slurs she gets called everyday.

Phenomenal writing and i can't wait to read more from Robin talley!!

It's hard to review the book because even though I enjoyed the story I don't know if it should be told by a white woman. This doesn't mean white people cannot write characters of color, but I felt really uncomfortable reading some parts of the book because of it. I also don't really know if it's all that ok for a white person to be writing the n word so many times. I am also not from the US, but still.

Another problem is that Linda literally comes to her senses because she thinks Sarah is different and not because she realizes they're all human beings (which also makes me wonder what Sarah saw in her because Linda was truly awful sometimes).

So yeah, I'd cautiously recommend the book? Maybe? I do appreciate the research she did to write it though.

Des mensonges dans nos têtes nous plonge en plein dans la fin de la ségrégation américaine, dans ces moments extrêmement difficiles et cruels qu'ont été les débuts du combat des afro-américains. On y suit Sarah, une des première étudiante noire à intégrer un collège « blanc », qui affrontera toutes les insultes, les affronts et les coups bas en gardant la tête haute. On y rencontrera aussi Linda, dont le monde se verra bouleversé à tout jamais, et dont le coeur se mettra à battre pour Sarah, envers et contre tout.

On enrage devant l'attitude des étudiants, des parents, des politiciens à travers toutes les pages, en se demandant comment il a été possible de se comporter à ce point là envers d'autres êtres humains. On souffre avec Sarah et les autres étudiants noirs, alors que l'on s'émeut tout doucement de la romance qui se lie avec Linda.

Critique complète sur Livrophage