Lovely One
A Memoir
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Lovely One
Narrated by:
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Buy Now for £16.99
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Narrated by:
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Ketanji Brown Jackson
About this listen
“A billowingly triumphant American tale.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.
Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.
Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.
Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come.
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Critic reviews
“[A] billowingly triumphant American tale of early promise fulfilled.”—The New York Times
“Vulnerable, tender, and infinitely inspirational, this book will make you proud of how far our country has come and riled up to help carry us where we need to go—which for [Ketanji Brown] Jackson may yet include the Broadway stage.”—Oprah Daily
“Once again, a gift has arrived in this country—brown-skinned, brilliant, and beautiful. Morally sound and truly believing in liberty and justice for all.”—Jacqueline Woodson, Elle
“An intimate look at her rise to the nation’s highest court, balancing motherhood, personal struggles, and a deep commitment to justice and public service.”—Essence
“More than most, [Jackson] understands the ways in which racism still constrains American society. But more than most, she also understands that this is not the end of the story: ‘It is true that not everyone was represented at the table when our country was being birthed. . . . Yet the principles of liberty and equality that the framers adopted . . . mean that every citizen can now enter those rooms.’”—The Washington Post
“A well-written, intriguing, and quintessentially American story about a fascinating woman who is truly the embodiment of what is possible in the United States because of its freedoms and in spite of its flaws—lovely indeed. A terrific memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Vulnerable, tender, and infinitely inspirational, this book will make you proud of how far our country has come and riled up to help carry us where we need to go—which for [Ketanji Brown] Jackson may yet include the Broadway stage.”—Oprah Daily
“Once again, a gift has arrived in this country—brown-skinned, brilliant, and beautiful. Morally sound and truly believing in liberty and justice for all.”—Jacqueline Woodson, Elle
“An intimate look at her rise to the nation’s highest court, balancing motherhood, personal struggles, and a deep commitment to justice and public service.”—Essence
“More than most, [Jackson] understands the ways in which racism still constrains American society. But more than most, she also understands that this is not the end of the story: ‘It is true that not everyone was represented at the table when our country was being birthed. . . . Yet the principles of liberty and equality that the framers adopted . . . mean that every citizen can now enter those rooms.’”—The Washington Post
“A well-written, intriguing, and quintessentially American story about a fascinating woman who is truly the embodiment of what is possible in the United States because of its freedoms and in spite of its flaws—lovely indeed. A terrific memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews
Overall, the feeling I had by the end of the story was that it didn't feel like Ketanji really had any real challenges other than being black. Everything seems to have been not only perfect in her life, but it seems that she basically comes from such a perfect background, it's not possible that she could not have been given this role as a Supreme Court justice: No relatives with crazy/ weird baby mamas anywhere in the family, well educated parents and brother all dedicated to public service jobs, ancestors married to one partner for decades, she’s only ever slept with one man who she met in uni, no clubbing at any point in her young life, like, nothing untoward ever happened in her life. Even her uncle who went to prison went for something so minor and was punished so disproportionately it’s not a negative reflection on Ketanji. Who can compete with that?
It doesn't seem really possible that she would not have got this role, whereas the white men that get these jobs are so much less perfect than her. Most people don't come from such perfect families and she seems to have had such a smoothed out life in the way it comes through in this book, so I question what I really can take away from it into my own life. I love the sister locks though, I might finally take the plunge on that.
An important story but feels way too perfect to be relatable
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