Morgan Parker is a voice that is desperately important. In You Get What You Pay For, she writes a deeply personal and impactful memoir (in essays) confronting the complexities of being Black and a Woman in America. This is not poetry, but her words are breathtaking and startling. Just magnificently written. She writes essays completely dissecting American culture and the Black/Female experience within. I've never read a memoir quite like this one. She is critical, simultaneously gentle, exceptionally resonant and deeply intimate in her essays, and I think her words will be valuable to all.

"You Get What You Pay For" is a poignant and powerful collection of essays that delves into the psyche of poet and writer Morgan Parker. Dubbed a voice of her generation, Parker courageously opens up about her personal struggles, seeking to reconcile the profound resonance of her writing with the pervasive sense of alienation that permeates her life. From a lifelong journey through singleness to grappling with the shadows of depression, Parker lays bare the complexities of her experiences.

The narrative traces Parker's deep-seated loneliness to an underlying struggle to feel authentically secure with others, a struggle exacerbated by a historic hyperawareness rooted in the enduring effects of slavery. Through a series of intimate conversations with her therapist, readers are invited into the vulnerable spaces of Parker's mind, where she confronts not only her personal challenges but also the broader cultural history and relationship between America and its Black citizens.

Parker fearlessly explores topics such as the pervasive beauty standards that systematically exclude Black women, the cultural implications of Bill Cosby's downfall in a society built on acceptance through respectability, and the nuanced challenges of visibility, exemplified by the mischaracterizations of Serena Williams as both iconic and overly ambitious.

What sets this collection apart is Parker's razor-sharp wit and incisive observations. Each essay serves as a portal into a profound examination of racial consciousness and its profound impact on mental well-being in contemporary America. Balancing unflinching criticism with deeply personal anecdotes, "You Get What You Pay For" creates a devastating yet necessary memoir-in-essays.