Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Hermano

Michael and Francis are brother, sons of Trinidadian immigrants, who are surviving in Scarborough. They haven't had it easy, but they make it through, until a shooting in their neighbourhood changes everything. Ten years later, Michael reunites with his teenage love, and is forced to reckon with the way that summer altered his entire life.
This story hurt to read; it felt very intimate. It explores topics of poverty, racism, complicated grief, in a simultaneously delicate and heavily impactful way.

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potterpav's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

wow .. a short book but so impactful . you aren’t with the characters for very long , but you can still see their motivations and reasonings for their actions (whether good or bad) and it feels like you’re watching an ocean of stories all mingle together , despite the book focusing on 3 main characters . what a way to start the 2023 reading year - thank you david chariandy

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katoo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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lizlikesfrogs's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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rachelfek's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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hoiyan's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Memory's got nothing to do with the old and grey and faraway gone. Memory's the muscle sting of now. A kid reaching brave in the skull hum of power.

wow. this is one of those books that punch you in the gut and you feel that hurt forever.

a story set in Scarborough about a first-gen Caribbean family that touches on being Black in Canada, and the ongoing grief that follows.

chariandy sets up the book slowly, using beautiful descriptions of Scarborough that change and adapt to the events happening at the time of the description, and makes the inanimate come to life.
the timeline going forward and back and forward again is pretty unorthodox, and was a bit confusing to keep track of which events happened when, but are vital to the storytelling. this novel's delivery almost mimics the memory flow of, you guessed it, a human being.

"Volume!" Every voice in the place together.
Volume!

the book focuses on heavy themes of grief, police brutality, racism, and the migrant experience in Canada living in a poverty-stricken area, but also turns readers' attention to the Black music culture, and heavily emphasizes the beauty and importance of music. the mentions of Black artists like Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Etta James contrasts the looming theme of racism in the book, and instead focuses on Black Excellence, especially in Michael and Francis' situation where their mother pushed "Your one and only chance," to climb higher (socially) and make it big in the world as a Black person in a White society.

this book gripped my little first-gen Canadian, child of an immigrant heart and didn't let go. i'm hesitating to give a full five stars due to one detail: chariandy using the homophobic f slur in his writing, and not as a reclamation. david chariandy is a cishet man, and has no right to use this slur, not even as another character speaking. he rightfully reclaimed the n slur in this book, but as a cishet man, had no right to use the homophobic f slur, no exceptions.

all in all, this book made me feel too much and made me want to cry one too many times. i highly recommend, and leave you with this:

"And if you can't memory right," he said, "you lose."

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bailey63's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Never had to read book for school that I ended up loving so much.

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