A review by asliyase
Complaint! by Sara Ahmed

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

4.25

Honestly it was a great book that detailed sexual and sexualized violence in academia/in the workplace. I know that there is power in it’s raw nature. But because of this, it was very difficult for me to read at times. I think I skipped around an hour of the 11.5 hour audiboook and disassociated for about 2 hours of it. I don’t know that I am “better”/“stronger” of having read this book emotionally, which I guess is okay. Maybe it u have been better to read this at a different time in my life, I don’t know. And this exact issue is touched on in the conclusion. This book did definitely felt reassuraning in telling us that the violence we face is real, institutional and systemic; and seemingly diverse and includive institutions are not immune either. It also reminded me the importance and value of complaining, not only after sexual assault but on the face of discrimination, abuse and violence in general. So I appreciated that as well. Conversations around doors (literal doors) was interesting, but also a bit repetitive and redundant.