pkc's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
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? No
4.0
If I was asked to review this story around the mid way point, it probably wouldn’t have been massively favourable. In fact, I came reasonably close to DNFing but in the last 70 pages, something happened. The core of the story unveiled itself, made itself known in a really profound way that I hadn’t expected. At just over 140 pages I hadn’t expected as much depth as I got from this book. It’s a touching and haunting look at the safety (or lack thereof) of black people amidst the persistent thrumming drumbeat of a system that is built to oppress and violate in equal turns. The second person narrative is so well considered and any reader can become engaged in the unease and feel everything that “you” are supposed to feel. I loved the protagonist and the rich storytelling was poetic, languid and sumptuous at points.
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, and Police brutality
tashtasher's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Racism
Moderate: Classism and Police brutality
Minor: Infidelity, Drug use, and Slavery
dancefever's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
i really liked this: so poetic, so rich, so evocative, absolutely heartfelt and the author has such a gift for putting words to feelings and situations which perhaps don’t semantically fit but really evoke its lived reality. even though the whole point of the book seems to be that it is a love letter to Black art, at times the references to this art, music etc. felt a bit… clunky? like during a scene when a song is playing, do we need to hear “This is This song by This Artist”? i feel like the lyrics would suffice, at times the long autobiographical or analytical details felt a bit Wikipedia-esque. all the same, at times it really worked: I loved the references to zadie smith and james baldwin, two writers I love too. also there was a technique the writer kept using, of repeating a phrase he had just used in reference to one of these artists and applying it directly to the main character’s life and inner monologue using the same words repeated later in the page, which I liked the effect of in general but was done so many times that it began to feel trite. still a gorgeous book though. 4.25 stars
Graphic: Police brutality, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Blood and Racism
s1etal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Car accident
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