An unabashed celebration of Lorde ... There is no room for Lorde’s flaws in this book; she is a goddess, an avatar, an icon. As an entry point into Lorde’s poetry, though, Gumbs’s persuasive close readings create a virtuous circle, shining a light on how the life generated the poems, which now elucidate that life ... Gumbs honors Lorde’s desire for an expansive legacy.
It often reads like a collection of essays intended to continue Lorde’s own project of self-mythologizing ... There are also many places where Gumbs hypothesizes when there’s a lack of information, which then becomes an exercise of imaginatively expanding the idea of Lorde, rather than documenting her life ... Though these elisions and inventions are shortcomings, they also speak to the book’s worthwhile attempt to change what a biography can be ... By recounting Lorde’s story outside linear chronology, and putting her alongside the rivers, forests, radio waves and obsidian, Gumbs is faithful to her subject’s great desire to be something more eternal. But Survival Is a Promise finally shows that this cosmic life is achieved through grounded and deep human work.
