Radical Hope

April 24, 2017
Shortly after the election of Donald Trump, novelist and activist De Robertis (The Gods of Tango) invited fellow writers equally dismayed by this outcome to offer hope to Trump opponents through a venerable literary format: the epistolary essay. Naming Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a notable example of the genre, she calls the book’s 31 selections “love letters in response to these political times.” De Robertis’s contributors, who include Jeff Chang, Junot Díaz, Claire Messud, and Celeste Ng, replied to her call with diverse, eloquent, and unapologetic pieces that speak to the heart and underline the sentiment that the personal is political. They contexualize the changes in today’s society by looking backward to famous ancestors and forward to grandchildren. The letters are addressed to the authors’ peers, the protesters at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, strangers in the grocery store, feminists met once on a Cairo sidewalk, and, perhaps most movingly, the beloved children who will inherit the results of adults’ choices. The overall message is one of radical connection and thoughtful activism. This collection is a plea to defy the idea that positive change is impossible.

A diverse group of writers and activists responds to the election of Donald Trump.The last few months have been a trying time--to say the least--for many Americans, who reacted to the 2016 presidential election with outrage, fear, and, finally, dissent. This new anthology of dissident writers, edited by novelist De Robertis (The Gods of Tango, 2015, etc.), who spent years working for nonprofit organizations, provides some comfort, direction, and inspiration to that large segment of our population. The editor curates a "symphony of voices" of various genders, sexualities, and religions from "communities with roots all over the world." Contributors include noted authors Junot Diaz, Jane Smiley, Celeste Ng, and Viet Thanh Nguyen as well as writers/activists like Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and many others. The pieces take the form of love letters because, as the editor explains, "[James] Baldwin showed us that letter-essays, as a form, are perfectly suited to blend incisive political thought with intimate reflections, to fold them into a single embrace." Some of the letters are written to specific people (the writers' children or ancestors), while others take a wider view ("Dear Millennials," Aya de Leon begins). Many readers will doubtless find solace in the volume, but there is a sort of sameness to the entries, perhaps due to the required form, and a tearfulness to many of them that becomes tiresome. Unfortunately, not all the writers are immune from cliche ("keep your chin up"). However, there are plenty of strong pieces here, particularly from Francisco Goldman and Katie Kitamura. Kitamura describes both the impossibility and the absolute necessity of language in times like these: "I listen, and I read, and I listen, and still I cannot comprehend the world that is being described." Still, we go on trying. Other contributors include Roxana Robinson, Hari Kunzru, Jane Smiley, and Claire Messud. A timely but sometimes overly sentimental anthology of dissident voices. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.