A Kirkus Star for Kim McLarin

Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed received a starred review in the 9/15 issue of Kirkus.

“Genuine, unrestrained musings, both political and personal, on life as a Black woman in contemporary America.

McLarin, a professor of creative writing and author of Womanish, Jump at the Sun, and other works of both fiction and nonfiction, prefers “periracial” to the misleading term “post-racial” America. As her essays eloquently and devastatingly demonstrate, there probably will never be a post-racial America. The author covers a wide range of topics, including travel, hair, kindness, aging, misogynoir, education, her experience getting a gun license (“In Massachusetts you can get a license to carry a gun without ever touching a weapon, much less shooting one”), and thoughts on humans’ relationships with dogs. “This is not a story about how my dog taught me to love or live or be a better human being,” she writes. “Dogs are easy to love, which is why people love them, but human learning seldom comes from ease. Anything important I’ve learned in life, anything lasting or worthwhile I’ve learned only through great effort. Sometimes discomfort. Not infrequently pain. Dogs may teach us how to love other animals but not how to love other human beings, which is by far the harder job.” McLarin makes her points so vividly that they are difficult to replicate or describe without direct quotations, and her assured, evocative prose is the kind only a truly gifted writer can achieve. The author’s voice is strong, the mechanics of her arguments are always clear, and she demonstrates wisdom craft, and uncompromising ferocity throughout her observations. One of the central questions she poses is whether she, as a Black woman, can love a country that has repeatedly failed to reciprocate that love. “Put bluntly, our society is sociopathic,” she writes. “If America were a person, the kindest thing to do with us would be to get us some help.”

A highly rewarding, commiserating nod as well as an astute rallying cry.