There's a Revolution Outside, My Love cover

There's a Revolution Outside, My Love

by Tracy K. Smith

"This kaleidoscopic portrait of an unprecedented time brings together some of our most treasured writers today--Edwidge Danticat, Layli Long Soldier, Monica Youn, Julia Alvarez, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor--to give voice to the unthinkable grief and hopeful possibilities born in an era of revolution and change." -- We are living through an unprecedented, revolutionary era. People have lost loved ones, livelihoods, homes, and even their own lives to Covid-19. Historic protests erupted in the summer of 2020 over the constant brutality against Black Americans. Galvanizing and lyrical, There's a Revolution Outside, My Love captures and gives voice to all the roiling sentiments of the moment in an anthology for the ages. Drawing its title from a powerful letter to her son by journalist Kirsten West Savali, the book fans out across a troubled, shattered America, offering a kaleidoscopic view of survival, grief, and the search for joy. Composed of searing letters, essays, poems, lamentations, and exhortations, There's a Revolution Outside, My Love highlights the work of some of our most powerful and treasured writers: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and many others. They hail from across a range of backgrounds and from nearly all fifty states. Noisy with beauty, they plead for safety and justice. THis is an intimate collection of writing that offers a space to mourn and ponder what the nation is, and what it can be. --

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?