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xinawebb's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Terminal illness, and Outing
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
chimichannika's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
What a beautiful, tender, glowing book ♡ if, like myself, you read the fault in our stars many years ago and, while understanding the artistic merits of the concept on its’ broadest scope, have always wished that story had more feeling, more care, more love, more heart in it, this is the book for you.
This book was so beautiful, so searingly flowing with love, so filled with lyrical and lovely prose, and so permeated with a softness and care. It was truly something special. It dealt with incredibly difficult topics and yet at the same time never loses its’ sense of tenderness. It’s an ode to love and the act of actively choosing to find value in finite existence and, especially, it felt like such a love letter to Black women and Black queerness. It was so beautiful. The way Petrus weaves together joy, quietness, grief, longing, pain, comfort, and connection so seamlessly made this book a flowing, lovely, complex narrative and it was so gorgeously told.
The way she wove the main characters’ lives together was so tender and heart-focusedly-written and the love she infused into certain family members of each of them and their bonds with one another brought me to tears several times throughout. The ending was so tender, too, and let the narrative conclude with a sense of open-endedness and simultaneous emotional closure, which is such a delicate line to walk (or write) and she did it so perfectly. I was also so glad thatMabel, Audre, and their friends were able to obtain a bit of freedom for Afua, and that the ending didn’t conclude with him returning to the officers but had he and Mabel take to the skies as two butterflies, nothing but the handcuffs left behind. this was such a melancholic yet beautiful ending and as the reader it gave the book a sense of closure.
Each month(ish) of the narrative also opened with some beautiful poetry based on the astrological sign of that period and it gave the book’s pacing a nice sense of rhythm. The pacing itself was also quite interesting— while arguably told in a linear narrative, the book still felt a bit like snapshots/vignettes into Mabel and Audre’s lives, and my only wish for this book is that I would’ve loved for it to be longer. I wanted to spend more time with them, see more moments before their time was cut short and it left me with a sense of yearning for those moments— however, I think this was intentional by the writer, paralleling the themes of finite moments, always seeing the ending encroaching on the horizon, that permeate Audre’s and Mabel’s lives and the fact that she wove those emotions, that yearning, into the very fabric of the narrative style, is So Good.
Truly a beautiful book and one I’d recommend to anyone who loved the half of it (2020) and is looking for a deeply soft, incredibly beautiful, intimate, lovely, love-centered, Black sapphic story. so, so good.
This book was so beautiful, so searingly flowing with love, so filled with lyrical and lovely prose, and so permeated with a softness and care. It was truly something special. It dealt with incredibly difficult topics and yet at the same time never loses its’ sense of tenderness. It’s an ode to love and the act of actively choosing to find value in finite existence and, especially, it felt like such a love letter to Black women and Black queerness. It was so beautiful. The way Petrus weaves together joy, quietness, grief, longing, pain, comfort, and connection so seamlessly made this book a flowing, lovely, complex narrative and it was so gorgeously told.
The way she wove the main characters’ lives together was so tender and heart-focusedly-written and the love she infused into certain family members of each of them and their bonds with one another brought me to tears several times throughout. The ending was so tender, too, and let the narrative conclude with a sense of open-endedness and simultaneous emotional closure, which is such a delicate line to walk (or write) and she did it so perfectly. I was also so glad that
Each month(ish) of the narrative also opened with some beautiful poetry based on the astrological sign of that period and it gave the book’s pacing a nice sense of rhythm. The pacing itself was also quite interesting— while arguably told in a linear narrative, the book still felt a bit like snapshots/vignettes into Mabel and Audre’s lives, and my only wish for this book is that I would’ve loved for it to be longer. I wanted to spend more time with them, see more moments before
Truly a beautiful book and one I’d recommend to anyone who loved the half of it (2020) and is looking for a deeply soft, incredibly beautiful, intimate, lovely, love-centered, Black sapphic story. so, so good.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Outing
Minor: Child death and Confinement
zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This is what The Fault in Our Stars wishes it was
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
skudiklier's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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? No
5.0
Gosh I loved this. I didn't really know much going in, so one of the main plot points really took me by surprise. This book is so beautiful and it made me cry a lot. I'd definitely recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Mental illness, Slavery, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Outing
lily1304's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.25
Audre and Mabel have a sweet little romance. I haven't read any YA in a while, and I missed it. I appreciate how Petrus describes both Minneapolis and Port of Spain with such familiarity and love. She can paint such loving scenes of family and friends supporting one another.
It's impossible for me not to compare this book to The Fault in Our Stars. Though they have a really similar basic premise, they each deal with love and death and grief in totally different ways. I relate much more strongly to the pessimism and spiritual doubt of TFIOS than the optimism of The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. Because I'm John Green trash, I know that he wrote TFIOS based on his experience serving as a hospital chaplain for teens with cancer - an experience which made him decide not to become a priest - and that really shows in Hazel's anger and despair and "what if God - I mean, the author, I mean, Peter Van Houten - is real and wants nothing to do with us?" Petrus being a Black woman already gives her a different perspective than John Green, and I wonder what life experiences inspired her.
I didn't expect New Age spirituality to be so intrinsic to the book - to the point that it's somewhere on the border between realistic and speculative fiction. It made me more mindful of my biases and attitudes about things like astrology and past lives - I have to constantly remind myself that my own religion would sound just as weird if it weren't the dominant religion in the United States. There were some anti-medicine/"food is medicine" vibes too, though, which concerns me a little.
Despite all that... I liked the ending.
It's impossible for me not to compare this book to The Fault in Our Stars. Though they have a really similar basic premise, they each deal with love and death and grief in totally different ways. I relate much more strongly to the pessimism and spiritual doubt of TFIOS than the optimism of The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. Because I'm John Green trash, I know that he wrote TFIOS based on his experience serving as a hospital chaplain for teens with cancer - an experience which made him decide not to become a priest - and that really shows in Hazel's anger and despair and "what if God - I mean, the author, I mean, Peter Van Houten - is real and wants nothing to do with us?" Petrus being a Black woman already gives her a different perspective than John Green, and I wonder what life experiences inspired her.
I didn't expect New Age spirituality to be so intrinsic to the book - to the point that it's somewhere on the border between realistic and speculative fiction. It made me more mindful of my biases and attitudes about things like astrology and past lives - I have to constantly remind myself that my own religion would sound just as weird if it weren't the dominant religion in the United States. There were some anti-medicine/"food is medicine" vibes too, though, which concerns me a little.
Despite all that... I liked the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
yvonne_cl's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Medical content
bookishcori's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Homophobia
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Police brutality
bencaroline's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Slavery, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Vomit
frenchtoast_n_books's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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? No
3.5
In short, there was so much I loved about this book but there were things that I just didn't get. Let's get into it.
The whole first half was a beautiful narrative of what brought 2 teens together, what hardships they face, and how they braved the love and cruelties of the world to manage throughout the day.
Then Mabel hears the finality of her terminal illness and this story veers onto another path. The story becomes jumbled with Mabel's dreams that have no real context or reflection in the story, her journey with Audre, and her learning about a man facing the death penalty.
I'll center on the dreams because that's where the disconnect lies. I love that these dreams are meant to connect Mabel to the universe and the cycle of life and ancestors to help her through her diagnosis, BUT these dreams are of Audre's grandmother, a person Mabel has never met and her past that Mabel has never learned. It failed to meet the mark, especially since there is no reflection or discussion on these dreams. They happen without warning and then they are gone in the next blink. I'm left thinking, "that was the point?" and "why should I care?"
Then the book ends in a painfully abrupt way that I understand but it will always leave me hoping for more.
I would have honestly loved the story (5 out of 5) if the dreams were cut or at the very least explained within the text. Though I have heard the creole isn't accurate, but I can't comment on that as I have no expertise in the matter, and I honestly loved the "spoken word" feel the narration holds. It makes me feel like I'm in the person's head.
I loved the discussions, the relationships, the words, and the story so much. I enjoyed the poems of every astrological sign that marked the passage of time. I loved so much this story had to offer. Though it wasn't perfect, I will read whatever this author releases next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Medical content