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58
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
82/100Critics
34/100Scholars
Author:
Laila Lalami
Publisher:
Pantheon Books
Date:
September 22, 2020
The award-winning novelist gathers eight essays that examine the meaning of citizenship in 21st-century America.
What The Reviewers Say
... a wonderfully readable series of essays.
... an argument for active, equal United States citizenship. In order to forward her conception of equality, Lalami must first present its counter construct: conditional membership in the body politic.
... a no-holds-barred non-fiction debut.
I read Conditional Citizens as a first-generation immigrant, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union who has been teased for being 'a commie' and 'a Russian spy' but also complimented on successful assimilation by those who knew nothing of the process. I read Conditional Citizens while holed up in my apartment, immunocompromised and afraid of catching or spreading the novel coronavirus.I read Conditional Citizens as a break from scrolling through social media feeds and learning about ordinary individuals who couldn’t get tested until it was too late, while celebrities got diagnosed and treated. I saw the president lean hard into racism and xenophobia, repeatedly saying 'Chinese virus,' and thus tacitly encouraging harassment and violence against Asian Americans.
