Williams writes from a place of personal reflection and takes the reader into his own experiences, which is a great way of getting conversations started about the embedded racist behaviours that many people are unaware they hold or may not understand the effect of.

I've been reading lots of book on race lately because well, y'know, finally that's getting published outside of sociology circles. This is one of the best ones I've read. Williams writes engagingly and well. Anecdotal writing combined with sharp social analysis that renders the bemusement and disorientation of race visceral. Williams is not writing for a specific audience but is not confused about his objective either. Great.

Wow!! Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams is an amazing book! My 200th book of 2021 and it was five stars! Right away I loved the conversational tone to the writing and the personal stories. It’s an important read on the topic of race and specifically Ian’s experiences as a Black Canadian man. It was especially interesting to read about his differing experiences in Canada versus America and Vancouver versus Toronto. By the end of the book I felt very emotional and almost cried. This is talented writing and I’m so excited to read his novel Reproduction now!
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Thank you to Europa Editions via NetGalley for my gifted review copy!