Blackklansman has gained popularity since being adapted into an award-winning movie directed by Spike Lee. 

That’s how I first heard about it.

But even so, I was intrigued by the premise:

Ron Stallworth was the first African-American in the Colorado Springs police department. He never expected that, as part of his new job, he would become a member of the KKK. 

Set on making a name for himself, Stallworth begins his plan to infiltrate the Klu Klux Klan in the hopes that he can make the city, and perhaps America, a better place.

 It will be the case of a lifetime.

This story was bound to be interesting, and it certainly was. Stallworth has a lot of hurdles to overcome on his journey to learning the secrets of the KKK, and there is plenty on the line. But, there’s enough humor scattered throughout to lighten the tone, although some of it is somewhat dark.

“First they got their ideas about how to light a cross from a James Bond movie, and now they were bragging about secret handshakes. It was as if Dennis the Menace were running a hate group.”

It took me a long time, however, to get through this book, despite how interested I was in Stallworth’s story. It’s clear that Stallworth has spent his life as a cop, and not as a writer. The style isn’t dry, per se, or boring to read, but it’s a bit bare-bones. He sticks to the facts, and only the facts. There are few descriptions of characters or places, including himself, other than what is necessary to the forward motion of the story. It reads, at times, like more of a report, or a long news article than as a book.

At times, I felt like this bare-bones type of style was leading me to miss things. And  I couldn’t help but feel that Stallworth was a bit of a biased narrator. Stallworth is portrayed as being fueled by justice almost to a fault, or at least to a degree that I sometimes questioned considering his age and the nature of his role in the department. Perhaps he’s just one of those rare people, but I would have like to see his flaws, his mistakes, which would have helped to make him more relatable.

These faults were minor in and of themselves but were highlighted by the fact that I read this memoir in audiobook format. Stallworth narrates, which was part of why I chose it; I’m always fascinated to see how an author will portray their own story, and think that, out of anyone, they will know and show the nuances.

But, that was not exactly the case here.

Stallworth is just as clearly not a voice actor as he is not a writer, and he spoke in a way that made it quite clear he was reading. Not monotone, exactly, but scripted. There was a definite lack of feeling especially when it came to certain things; I’ve never heard someone say the N-word (especially when saying someone called them it) with such an unemotional tone.

“Success often lies not in what happens but in what you prevent from happening”

I admit that I’m picky with my nonfiction, and this did not make the cut for me. I would have enjoyed it much more, I think if I had read it in physical form. Although I was captured by the story, I was somewhat bored by the narration. I gave Blackklansman 3 out of 5 stars.