They Said This Would Be Fun

“University is a time of major personal growth and excitement but also systemic, baked-in discrimination and inequity. This book is for anyone who is still making sense of it all but especially for those who need communion with a beautifully-written account of what it’s like to finally find your people.”
—Hannah Sung
 
“With fierce intelligence and flashes of humour, Eternity Martis exposes racism and sexism on contemporary university campuses through her personal story of coming of age as a young Black woman at a predominantly white school. A deeply felt memoir about resistance, resilience and the life-saving power of finding your own voice.”—Rachel Giese, author of Boys: What It Means to Become a Man, winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing
 
“I’m angry to hear that Canadian universities are still ignoring and isolating young racialized women, decades after my own experiences there. But I’m very glad that Eternity’s brave, honest and funny book will be there for students of the future – as well as for institutions whose leaders have the courage and decency to change.” —Denise Balkissoon, executive editor, Chatelaine
 
“Though They Said This Would Be Fun is Eternity Martis’s debut, she is an authority on the pervasive nature of racism on North American university campuses—an oft-overlooked issue kept hush among so-called polite Canadians. They Said This Would Be Fun is not an easy read, nor is it always comfortable. But it is an essential book for allies—an exhaustive look at the discrimination Black women face in a country too often described as a haven of multiculturalism.”—Erica Lenti, Xtra
 
“Too many stories about the experience of racism on Canadian campuses remain buried, because of fear of reprisal or retaliation. With this spellbinding and important memoir, Eternity Martis offers us a clear-eyed, eloquent and no holds-barred portrayal of what it’s like to be a young Black woman studying in the “ivory tower.” Required reading for all those who are preparing to head to a Canadian university—and to those who head them up. I plan to buy it in bulk to hand out at my school. Unwaveringly unapologetic, richly written and powerfully conveyed, Martis offers us the book that scholars, students and university administrators have been waiting for—an unflinching look at racism on Canadian campuses. Following in the footsteps of writers like Roxane Gay and Scaachi Koul, but steadfastly providing her own distinctive voice, Martis’ book is at times shocking, powerful, surprisingly funny and most of all provides a seamless link between theoretical approaches to race and how it plays out in practice.” —Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, and Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty, University of British Columbia