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No Is Not a Lonely Utterance
- Author
- Sara Ahmed
- Narrator
- Sara Ahmed
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 18 September 2025
- Run Time
- 10 hours 47 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
A moving exploration of the solace and power of listening in an unjust world, from the author of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook
‘Behind many disasters are unheard complaints’
To complain is an intimate, dangerous act. Whether it’s speaking up about racism in the workplace or taking a stand against sexual harassment at university, the act of complaining to an institution can leave you isolated and undermined, all while the original injustice remains unresolved. Time and time again, we see these unanswered complaints compound to disastrous effect.
In No is Not a Lonely Utterance, Sara Ahmed dissects the anatomy of a complaint, revealing how institutions create hostile environments that stigmatize complainers, and charts a way we can listen to grievances with ‘feminist ears’: going beyond mere validation and seeking instead to address the root causes of injustice and inequality.
Weaving together testimonies from various walks of life, Ahmed shows us what we learn about the ways institutions exercise their power when complaints are raised, and indeed what we learn about our capacity to collectivize and create social bonds through complaint. In doing so, she inspires us to create better environments for our life’s work.
© Sara Ahmed 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
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Brilliantly rearticulates the feminist method of complaint as a necessary and productive daily inhabitation of the political . . . a loud and insistent demand for a more just world
Jasbir Puar, author of The Right to Maim
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Goes beyond the academy to our shared histories of dismissal and denial . . . In an act of solidarity and resistance, we all need to sign up to the complaint collective Ahmed suggests
Pratibha Parmar, writer and filmmaker
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Doesn’t simply celebrate complaints; it reimagines them as a form of resistance and recognition... Ahmed’s book is an insightful reminder: Sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease until it’s too late
Hyperallergic
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A must-read . . . Ahmed does an excellent job of calling the reader to action whilst pointing out that solidarity and resistance look like different things to different people
Glasgow Women's Library
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Remarkable . . . has the potential to generate real change. In a world that is so turbulent and unpredictable, this book is the hope that so many people are searching for
Zimmer Magazine
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Ahmed merges her own experience with stories shared by other battle-scarred complainers... These stories bolster Ahmed’s cutting observations about the nefarious means by which power is maintained within institutions... Readers will find meaningful insight and support
Publishers Weekly
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Sara Ahmed
- Narrator
- Sara Ahmed
- Duration
- 10 hours 47 minutes
- Release Date
- 18 September 2025
- ISBN
- 9781837311057
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Feminism and feminist theory, Social discrimination and social justice
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin.A moving exploration of the solace and power of listening in an unjust world, from the author of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook‘Behind many disasters are unheard complaints’To complain is an intimate, dangerous act. Whether it’s speaking up about racism in the workplace or taking a stand against sexual harassment at university, the act of complaining to an institution can leave you isolated and undermined, all while the original injustice remains unresolved. Time and time again, we see these unanswered complaints compound to disastrous effect.In No is Not a Lonely Utterance, Sara Ahmed dissects the anatomy of a complaint, revealing how institutions create hostile environments that stigmatize complainers, and charts a way we can listen to grievances with ‘feminist ears’: going beyond mere validation and seeking instead to address the root causes of injustice and inequality.Weaving together testimonies from various walks of life, Ahmed shows us what we learn about the ways institutions exercise their power when complaints are raised, and indeed what we learn about our capacity to collectivize and create social bonds through complaint. In doing so, she inspires us to create better environments for our life’s work.© Sara Ahmed 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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