Even the best essay collections routinely contain some filler, but of the 12 essays here, there's not one that even comes close to being forgettable. Bernard's language is fresh, poetically compact and often witty ... In Black Is the Body, Bernard proves herself to be a revelatory storyteller of race in America who can hold her own with some of those great writers she teaches.
With candor and humility, and language that is reflective, nuanced and almost lyrical at times, [Bernard] invites us to join her and contemplate what we would do if we were in her shoes.
Bernard's honesty and vulnerability reveal a strong voice with no sugarcoating, sharing her struggle, ambivalence, hopes, and fears as an individual within a web of relationships black and white. Highly recommended.
Black Is the Body... brings lucidity, honesty and insight to the topics of race and interracial relationships. As her own quietly compelling account suggests, Ms. Bernard is complex and resilient. Her stories get under your skin ... The scars the stabbing left on Ms. Bernard’s insides launch this fearless philosophical work.
There are stylistic echoes of Joan Didion — terse yet beautiful writing, a bracing honesty — in the graceful new essay collection by Emily Bernard ... Didion’s essays are models of clinical observation, but Bernard leads us into her inner landscape with candor and confession. Beneath her still surfaces, a rage roils ... This is an essayist who takes risks, casting real people as characters ... Small moments open onto piercing revelations about race ... Black Is the Body often rises to a taut lyricism, rich in detail and feeling ... As is often the case with collections, Black Is the Body is uneven ... Quibbles aside, Black Is the Body marks the debut of an essayist in command of her gifts, a book that belongs beside the best of contemporary autobiography.
Contemplative and compassionate ... Bernard’s voice throughout is personable yet incisive in exploring the lived reality of race ... Bernard’s wisdom and compassion radiate throughout this thoughtful collection.
