Lynn Melnick’s Refusenik is a Jew­ish fem­i­nist tour de force. Relent­less in her will to go on despite all of the forces that would sup­press her, Mel­nick inter­ro­gates the gaze of patri­archy, anti­semitism, and racism, all the while main­tain­ing a nuanced self-aware­ness of the unavoid­able lim­i­ta­tions of her own speak­ing sub­ject. In the ten­sion between the silenc­ing forces of vio­lence and trau­ma and the speaker’s tenac­i­ty, wit, and can­dor, we are bar­reled through this tri­umphant new col­lec­tion. This is a book you’ll devour quick­ly, then read again and again. Its wis­dom is quick­sil­ver, its real­iza­tions nec­es­sary in our cur­rent moment so fraught with hatred. Melnick’s most pow­er­ful work to date, Refusenik is a book that refus­es to be denied.