That Hair by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Making peace with ourselves in, I think to myself, like making peace with our ancestry, as though being at ease in our own skin were the consequence of the comfort brought by having a family.”
This was a tiny book that reads like a semi-autobiography of the authors life growing up in Lisbon. The author weaves in the history of her family along side how the people around her react to her hair and how she develops her own feelings about her hair. I resonated with the fact that Mila’s early attitude toward here hair was one of indifference, where it was a such a trivial matter to her until other’s like her white grandmother made comments like, “Tell me, Mila, when are you going to take care of that hair?” I feel that these are the turning points we have in our own thought patterns where we adopt the opinions of others. As if our hair, our skin or bodies are a problem that need to be fixed.
The writing style might not be for everyone but I thought it was a great that the author shared her story in this way.
Thank you to Tin House for the early copy!
preeti reads 