Audiobook review of How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo

Author Elaine Castillo proposes an open-minded and inclusive method to literature and movie in her radical, refreshing guide on essential pondering, How to Read Now (9 hours). Castillo urges writers and readers to perceive that nonwhite characters don’t exist for the only real function of educating empathy to white folks, and that the excuse “it was a different time” holds no water for tales that perpetuate colonialist worldviews, even when written by such cherished literary figures as Jane Austen, J.Okay. Rowling and Joan Didion. But How to Read Now isn’t only a takedown of outdated ideas; it’s additionally a celebration of the works that get it proper, such because the movies of Wong Kar-wai and the poems of Tommy Pico.

As each author and narrator, Castillo expresses her sturdy level of view properly. She is at her greatest when recalling private tales, from rising up Filipina in a majority Asian American neighborhood, to attending a lauded graduate program that failed to meet her expectations. This is an audiobook for readers prepared to shake issues up, to open their eyes and ears, and to develop as lovers of tales.