Opinions by Roxane Gay review – the art of argument
“I have a lot of opinions and I come by them honestly,” Roxane Gay writes in the introduction to a new anthology of her essays. The academic and author, whose 2014 collection, Bad Feminist, became a bestseller and cultural touchstone, has gained a devoted fanbase for her insightful, witty and accessible prose. Whether her subject is sexual assault or cookery programmes, Gay has an ability to blend the personal and political in a way that feels simultaneously gentle and brutal.
Opinions brings together previously published columns from the Guardian, New York Times and Harper’s among others – alongside a few celebrity profiles and advice pieces from the past decade. The collection, which is divided into themed sections with titles such as Man Problems and Civic Responsibilities, covers everything from musings on the Fast and Furious franchise, to the legacy of Toni Morrison, to cancel culture. It is a testament to Gay’s writing, as well as an indictment of our politics, that nothing here feels dated. Her first piece, “Tragedy plays on an infinite loop”, was originally published in 2014, in the wake of the killing of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. It’s about how technology has transformed tragedy into spectacle. “We bear witness to the worst of human brutality, retweet what we have witnessed, and then we move on to the next atrocity. There is always more atrocity.”
There certainly is. That piece was published almost 10 years ago, when Barack Obama was president, but it could have been written yesterday. No doubt it will feel just as relevant in a decade’s time. “Writing about racism can feel repetitive, but then, racism is repetitive,” Gay laments in her introduction. “We write and write and write and very little changes because the people who truly need to hear those words are not listening, are incapable of listening.”
If the right people aren’t listening – if opinion is largely preaching to the choir – what is the point of it? “Readers turn to opinion writing because they
want help in parsing complex issues,” she writes. “In times of strife or tragedy they may be seeking solace and community … They want help finding clarity on issues they find confusing or feel ambivalent about.”
All of which is true, but I was expecting to read a tighter thesis on the power and purpose of this genre in the introduction. In some ways, though, the lack of one speaks to one of Gay’s best qualities as a writer, which is that she doesn’t actually hammer home her point of view. Instead her approach might be summed up by a line in her essay about Will Smith’s infamous Oscars slap, where she notes the many complexities of the moment and states that she is “trying to hold space for all of those layers”. At its best this approach is effortlessly convincing. Occasionally, however, it can feel unfocused.
Still, what Gay doesn’t explicitly say about the power of opinion writing is revealed by many of the pieces themselves. In an essay titled “Why are most
Father’s Day gifts so terrible?”, for example, she takes a relatable and amusing premise and spins it into a meditation on her relationship with her father and our cultural expectations of men. She homes in on something banal – the search for a perfect gift – and mines it for meaning.
The standout here is that essay on that slap (titled “Jada Pinkett Smith shouldn’t have to ‘Take a joke’. Neither should you”), though. “We are constantly asked to make our skin thicker,” she writes. “Who is served by all this thick skin? Those who want to behave with impunity.” A viral event is transformed into a framework for thinking about boundaries and power. For 1,400 or so words you look at a cultural moment through Gay’s eyes and, by the end, you see the world differently.
• Opinions by Roxane Gay is published by Corsair (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
• This article was amended on 28 September. A previous version misspelled Roxane Gay’s first name as “Roxanne”.
Gay homes in on something banal – and mines it for meaning