Empathy Reads

Last winter I challenged myself (and you) to read outside of our echo chambers. To build empathy by reading from and about people who are different than us on many levels. Now, in follow up to my most recent post, and on a day that celebrates a man in our history who suffered from a lack of empathy towards those who were different (to put it very mildly), I came up with this list of 5 books I've read this year that I think are incredibly examples of the power of fiction to express empathy and create more empathetic readers.  

1. Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng)

Ng's most recent novel is a beautiful and gripping account of lives that become unexpectedly entwined through a string of events, both minor and catastrophic. The book touches on themes of race, class, privilege, privacy, friendship, and personal responsibility without ever becoming heavy-handed. Her use of a shifting point of view to tell the story along with her unique ability to get inside the hearts and minds of every character, even the insignificant ones, puts this at the top of my list of books that build empathy. 

I also highly recommend her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You. 

2. Counting Descent (Clint Smith)

This thin volume of poetry should not be overlooked. It is deeply personal and at the same time accessible. With a depth of feeling and sincerity of voice, Smith brings you into his lived experience in a way that makes it impossible not to feel connected to him. This book does not try to hide or diminish the trials or the joys of living as a black man in today's America. A moving and well-crafted tribute to those who came before and a hard look into where we are now, with a touch of hope for a future that is better for all of us. Absolutely should be considered for a place on everyone's to-read list. 

3. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

On the other end of the length spectrum is Kingsolver's hefty volume that chronicles the story of the Prices, a fictional missionary family living in the Belgian Congo during the nation's tumultuous struggle for independence. My sister gave this one to me because she needed someone to talk to about it. Told though the alternating voices of the four Price daughters and their mother, the story captures a unique and troubling point in history through vastly different perspectives. Each perspective, though all flawed in their own ways, is treated as valid and meaningful. This is a story that does not look for or accept easy answers, but makes the reader pull up a chair and sit for a while in the uncomfortable in-between of not knowing. A book that sticks with you. 

4. The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas)

Told from the perspective of a wise and caring teenager who feels torn between her black, urban upbringing and her largely white and suburban school life, the split between worlds is intensified when Starr witnesses the death of her friend, a young black man, at the hands of a police officer. This is a book that seeks, not to explain, but to dive inside the anger and fear that have been sparked by the deaths of young men like Trayvon Martin and Philando Castile, among so many others. A deeply thoughtful, empathetic story of love and loss in the midst of injustice that draws attention to the power and responsibility that comes with having a voice. 

5. Boxers & Saints (Gene Luen Yang & Lark Pien) 

This two volume graphic novel is unlike anything I have read, before or since. To craft a narrative that takes two characters on polar opposite sides of a violent and furious conflict and tells their stories side-by-side with dignity and honesty takes an incredible amount of empathy and imagination. This is a story that acknowledges all the best and worst impulses of humanity, while maintaining that we are all still human- with human hopes and human failings. A book that will make you think about how you would treat a person who violently opposed what you value most.