To Save and to Destroy

This book was really interesting because it's a compilation of several lectures that the author did. I listened to the book and I feel like that's a good choice for this one because of its origins as a set of it in-person lectures.

It was really interesting to me how he focused on ideas of othering. But it wasn't just about the more common kinds of othering that we think of when it comes to race or ethnicity. He also talked about the othering that happens within yourself and knowing or not knowing yourself.

I haven't read any of his novels or his memoir, but the way he talked about those books and referenced them throughout the lectures, it's clear that they also follow a similar vein of being othered in different kinds of ways. And I think the most interesting part is that in the author's mind, it doesn't seem like being and Other does necessarily something that's bad. society can induce negative consequences from these positions, but at the same time the problem isn't that you are an Other, it's that you're being treated poorly for it. I think these are ideas that I would like to explore a lot more, so it seems like I'm probably going to pick up his novels and his memoir! And perhaps read some of the authors that he brought up throughout the lectures.

Overall a really thought provoking an interesting read.