Review: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a lovely and beautiful book. I'm making an effort to read a more diverse set of memoirs, and this one, by a gay journalist who grew up in rural Louisiana, was an excellent read. Growing up in abject poverty, and sexually assaulted at a young age, Charles Blow may have ended up just another poor black man living on the margins in the South. Instead, he took his love of books and learning, attended college, and catapulted himself to be a leading liberal commentator for the likes of CNN, the New York Times.

I was struck by his honesty regarding his shame around his assault, and by his forgiveness to his younger self of the decisions that it lead to. He lifts himself out of poverty (like, "eat dirt as a snack" poverty) only to face extreme physical hazing as a fraternity pledge in college. Not until years after does he come to terms with all of it.

I kept thinking, "when he sits in the green room at CNN, does he think to himself, how the hell did I get to a place where someone brings me cut up cheese and fruit and sparkling water?" Not only is he a great champion for the politics I believe in, but he is also a great champion of overcoming childhood trauma.

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