samcanuel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, and Bullying
Minor: Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Classism, and Colonisation
gracedunne's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Classism, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Eating disorder and Kidnapping
dannythestreet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Cursing, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Police brutality, and Pregnancy
lynxpardinus's review
4.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Vomit, Slavery, Alcohol, Animal death, Police brutality, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty
imogenreads77's review against another edition
Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism
laurenjbb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Racial slurs
jaynereel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Definitely enjoyed this!! Loveeeddd the narrator - her voice had so much character and style and I loved her impersonations of Briar. She was awesome. Also loved the writing style of this book.
Spoiler
I found myself giggling and really enjoyed the way Emira and Alix’s paths intersected - the surprise of Kelley being the guy from Alix’s high school and then coming to Thanksgiving cracked me up and I wasn’t expecting it.
Overall this was a great satire on the lengths some white people, especially white liberal women, will go to to feel and appear “woke” while having their own interests at the center of everything, and how these efforts can work to make Black people’s lives even harder. Alix was searching through the whole story to find a way to convince herself and Emira that she isn’t racist. In doing so, she became pretty blind and lacked the empathy needed to really see Emira as a whole person. I loved the way this irony was pulled into her and Kelley’s storylines.
I reeallllyy wished though that all that powerful satire regarding Alix and Emira was what was focused on in the final bits of the book… like, why was it reduced to Alix being a bad mom? I thought Emira’s final comment to her and the ending lines of the book were a bit weird and out of place considering the rest of the satirical irony that had just gone on. I wished they had focused more on that instead of parenting that wasn’t focused on as much during the rest of the book.
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
Moderate: Kidnapping
mandi4886's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Bullying, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
hanelimaro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Fatphobia, Kidnapping, and Racial slurs
jonbrady's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Emira Tucker, down-on-her-luck Black twentysomething, takes a babysitting job for women-empowering blogger Alix Chamberlain - who sees herself, her upmarket home and her Cody family as the life-changing opportunity Emira has been waiting for. But when Emira is racially profiled in a supermarket and the incident is caught on camera, what flares up between the pair reveals much about both and how their race has dictated their lives and the struggles they face.
Kiley Reid’s debut has much to say about the modern power dynamics between Black people and white people, particularly the white people who are seen to make the grandest efforts and gestures to be “anti-racist”. Some of the bit parts aren’t as fleshed out as they could be, and the closing scenes perhaps amp up the conflict a little more than expected, but this is a great study that asks why, so often, Black people are characterised only by what they do for those with white skin.
Graphic: Cursing
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting