Reviews

This book pissed me off. I can’t remember why I picked this book to read at the time, but it’s possible it’s because it had similar themes to Little Fires Everywhere which is a favorite. But while that book was a brilliant portrayal of complicated mother-daughter relationships, families, and issues of race and class, this book was full of two-dimensional characters with superficial relationships and mild neighborhood drama. If that had been all, I would probably have rated this book 3 stars and moved on. But somehow the end turned into a speed race to tell a story with the most Black pain the white author could fit in the last 50 pages. It’s not that I don’t think stories like this should be told, they should (as well as stories centered on Black characters that DON’T focus on their struggle and pain). But I just can’t understand WHY the author felt the need to tell this story, even with her disclaimer about being white and writing about race. I don’t feel like anything was added to the discourse with other writers on the subject, so the display of injustice and tragedy just felt gratuitous and exploitative and left me feeling sick and angry.

tonimeter's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

The book went from its “casual” way to the complete shock and surprise in the ending. I found the second half a bit too over rushed, and I didn’t really like that ending. It felt too extreme for me.

jenmat1197's review

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3.0

This is the story of two families who live in the nice neighborhood of Oak Knoll in North Carolina. Xavier - a young boy with a very promising future as a musician, a scholarship to a prestigous school, and his mother live in an old house with a beautiful tree. All is fine until the Whitman family builds a huge house and moves in next door. The house build destroys the roots of the fine tree and what transpires because of it leads both families down a path neither saw coming.

The story asks what it is like to live by people who are different than you. What is it like to be a good neighbor even when you don't see things the same way? How can people coexist that might not necessarily ever be friends?

This was not a great book. There were a lot of stereotypes in the book and the attraction of the step father to the step daughter was uncomfortable for me. Took away from the story. There wasn't a lot of character development. I never really felt for any of the characters one way or the other.

Skip it

covingtonscollection's review

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5.0

Brad, Brad, Brad... I disliked you from page 1. Fowler created a character that was easy to hate, and wanting him to be punished is one reason I kept going with this book. I’ve never hated a character so much and I wish I could’ve reached through and grabbed him. The multiple POVs made the story even better due to the several characters involved, and different versions of the events that unfold. This story touches heavily on racism, the justice system, and an a**hole of a human (aka Brad) (sorry he’s all I can think about while writing this

gum1311by's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

cebaute's review

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4.0

4.5. This book was wild.

sanmeow's review

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medium-paced

well that was ... something ... ! it's very obvious the author is white. painfully obvious. the way the black characters were written is absolutely horrendous and downright disrespectful. the author wrote them in such stereotypical ways that it was disturbing. why the hell are you, as a white woman, writing the n word (with the hard r at that) into your book? this made me so incredibly angry that i felt nauseous. oh and she even added a few questionable lines about sexuality and gender to really make sure that i would love this!

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