political analysis & review of N.K. Jemisin's 'The Fifth Season'

[@rebeccahall4209]

I just read this book for the first time and my mind is blown. As soon as she called the continent “The Stillness” I knew we were talking about structural white supremacy

[@shukri7278]

bought this the other day because you kept mentioning the fifth season whenever you spoke about marxism, organising and political imagining in sci-fi! can't wait to read it!

[@asunnybooknook]

I hope you enjoy!

[@OliviasCatastrophe]

I loved the fifth season with all my heart and it was one of my favourite reads of 2021. And yes, afrofuturism knows how to own the scifi genre ^.^ The world building was masterful. I already knew I was going to love the book from the dedication alone. Love how you talked about the people in the world who can truly change the world - their physical world, and therefore have to oppress them to keep their idea of stability. I love how the book talked about unlearning and understanding that there is so much you don't know, you don't know. I loved how it showed narrative, storytelling and history - and how it is told really relates to power.

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you Olivia!

[@mykenziemasters2793]

I have had this book sitting on my shelf for like six months now and I think you have motivated me to finally get it out so I can watch this video lol

[@sushminat4194]

Thank you Sunny - It took me several tries to read this book and I finally finished. I came to watch your video immediately because I knew you would be able to analyze the evolution of the story. I appreciate this!!

[@rosieoftheunderground]

the way you uploaded this mere DAYS AFTER I started reading it! (I waited til I finished the trilogy before watching) this is one of your best videos, well done

[@asunnybooknook]

omg! thank you so much

[@jathesage]

you killed it with this video! I loved how you critically deconstructed this with class and race in mind, and looked towards the ways it asks us to radically imagine the creation of something new from the destruction of something old. This book is masterful in how it champions abolition and asks us to really question our relationship to our environment and how we have come to know the world (and ourselves). I know you mentioned you’ve been in your sc-fi/Afrofuturism bag since 2020, so you’ve probably read it already, but if you haven’t, I’d really recommend Octavia Butlers “Parable of” Series. While incomplete, the series similarly tackles some of the themes you’ve mentioned in your video.

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much love! and I read parable of the sower this summer, and I think it really is the blueprint for a lot of what goes on in the fifth season, NK Jemisin was no doubt inspired by that novel I think

[@christopherthr]

Incredible. You have given me so many words for things I didn’t have words for, both about the themes in the book as well about the realities of our own capitalist, colonialist world. You may have also just single-handedly convinced me that literary analysis can be interesting and edifying and not just boringly academic and self-congratulatory. I have often found literary criticism to embody the strongest form of the arbitrary and classist hierarchy of the arts imposed on us from a young age that essentially renders certain forms of art and hobby interest as legitimate, refined, and meaningful and others as childish, boorish, and wasteful. You’ve convinced me that it doesn’t have to be that way, and that even literature and literary analysis can be egalitarian and anti-class. Thank you for your thoughts and the work you did to put this video together. 🙏🏻

[@asunnybooknook]

wow, this means so much to me! thank you so much :')

[@BandysBooks]

So I found this video through a recommendations list and I’m so excited about it. I’m just in the process of reading this series after a friend gave it to me to read, so I’m putting this video on a list to watch once I’ve finished to avoid spoilers. Looking forward to a very deep and interesting discussion. 💜

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much!!

[@ShamimAhmedLaskar-e1s]

A well researched, critical review. Loved it comrade.

[@bookishplantmom371]

I have been waiting years for an in depth critical analysis of this book thank you for this!

[@asunnybooknook]

I appreciate it so much!

[@kalamataolives]

this is so good and needs more views !!

[@randomdooodle]

loved your analysis! I recently finished the book and I'm glad I found your video. Also your recommendations have been great and thanks for making all the great content!

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much!!!

[@karina-pf9tp]

This was fascinating!! As a political analysis of the novel's institutional structures, this vid provides so many nodes for connections to afrofuturism and decolonial feminist thought (broadly) that would crystallize your arguments as they connect to the 'real world' (who decides what's real anyway). Thank you for a great video! --lit studies grad student on a lunch break

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you :)

[@phoebeel]

Nodes of connection... I see what you did there haha

[@r.nicolesmith2340]

Thus was such a good analysis! I loved the Hegel and Fanon references.

[@asunnybooknook]

Thank you!!

[@KaylaAnderson-us1pv]

Great video! Just finished this book, great analysis 👍🏾

[@Quest4korea93]

Great analysis! Helped me appreciate this book even more. I'm halfway through book 2 now :)

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much :)

[@Emily-up2vb]

you're so cool 😭 great vid per usual

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you

[@ehnnerjamez3729]

Sunny I really love that you are expanding your Horizons w scifi/fantasy stuff! I also agree with you about Scifi with how people have come at it coming from a white colonialist perspective! It can get annoying sometimes when people want to talk about the state of humanity when their ancestors (and themsselves also ) helped create and maintain the board state of the world and its problems. Im glad you found Jemison though! Im going to start reading her Green Lantern FarSector book soon. Ive been championing her ever since I found out about her! Keep up the good work!

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you !!!

[@maxbladel]

BRAVO!!! I felt all of this when I read it but it’s so valuable to have someone put it into words… listening to this was a very validating and rewarding experience. 👏 I hope the movie does justice to the depth and critique. 😬

[@RaspberryDevil]

An interesting analysis, thanks for sharing this review with us! Definitely going to rewatch this one day when I eventually have my own copy to annotate and think more about it :)

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much!!

[@jonah6806]

Hooked from the intro, I'll have to read the book first then come back and finish this

[@asunnybooknook]

let me know what you think! :)

[@FazRasheedify]

I just finished the trilogy and came across your video! How amazing to find a Marxist reading of Broken Earth!

[@Smonserratm]

To me it felt like she thought about the world and built it before creating the story/plot. It reminded me a lot of Dune with volcanoes and ash instead of sandworms and desert.

[@bruceshields6807]

You had me at lavender and Earl Grey.

[@Hanan_9602]

Earl grey is the best tea!!! YES THIS IS THE VIDEO I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED, love the fifth season, I'm seated, paying FULL attention, notebook OUT

[@asunnybooknook]

HAHHAH thank you!!

[@cowboylikeana]

this book has been on my tbr for a long time! i should read it soon 👀 this video (and look omg) is a slay as always

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you :)

[@anjaxuanreads]

Lovely video, as always

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you Anja

[@shulyrose8588]

wow!! this video is a masterpiece

[@asunnybooknook]

thank you so much

[@arpankumarbasak1813]

I haven't read this novel yet, and sadly, for that, can't watch this video fully right now. Is this book promoting Marxist ideology?

[@RobynRichardsFan1]

Thanks for posting!

[@RememberingEarth]

Nice review!

[@eugeniapizarro9313]

It was a very interesting commentary.

[@ndx_]

I MISSEDTHIS !!

[@asunnybooknook]

haha thank you!

[@kermit294]

oh i have to read now

[@asunnybooknook]

youre gonna love it

[@samshort3047]

Great video! Thanks for being open with your opinion! This cemented what I already suspected about who enjoys these books. First time sci-fi/fantasy readers who are lgbtqia+ activists first and foremost. As a fantasy/scifi lover myself……. This book sucks. Literal booty cheeks. I tried so hard to like it but the writing is horrible, the metaphors are surface level, and the book is just boring, with an unexplored magic system. Nothing against you creator, I’m happy you got something from it, but as a lover of the genre, this book’s ass.

[@balrajsingh8349]

Where does marxism come in this book?

[@TPubbie]

Oppression and racism do make sense in this setting. The orogenes are inherently dangerous. They can destroy cities by accident, but that's nothing compared to the destruction they cause deliberately. It would be irrational not to fear them.

[@phalexxxx]

This isn't science fiction, this is fantasy.

[@rebeccahall4209]

Like LeQuin says, it’s all Speculative Fiction. The distinction is irrelevant for this analysis

[@Bea-u2x]

I hated the book ! It’s vulgar, but my university assigned it and I have to stomach it somehow. It ticks all the boxes that liberals love so much but the book itself is thrash.