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vonni's review against another edition
I took issue with the author, characters, and details of the subject matter.
Potential minor spoilers:
The author of this book is a non-Black British man, all of the main characters are white. All of them. Yet the main subject matter of the novel is appropriation and racist attitudes toward Black culture and Black people in America. It feels ironic to an insulting degree that Black people are mystical plot devices and background set pieces for a story supposedly critical of white privilege. There are no non-white characters for at least 50% of the book that are active participants in the story.
Somewhat frustrating but not on the same degree of irritation, the main characters are all really unlikeable. The narrator feels shame for the position of privilege he is by association with his wealthy, racist friends. He occasionally muses on how ignorant they are towards the irony of their love for Black culture and counter culture, but are living off of riches produced from real estate and the prison industrial complex. Seth is not compelling and had not yet to the point i reached in this book challenged anyone on their hypocrisy. Internally, he'll ponder it but quickly make excuses on their behalves.
It is especially frustrating to read *as* a queer Black biracial person who grew up in a predominantly white, mostly rural, region and has had a lifetime of experiences with microaggressions and outright racism. This book isn't for me. Maybe it will be eye opening for other readers, but I'm not the audience.
Potential minor spoilers:
The author of this book is a non-Black British man, all of the main characters are white. All of them. Yet the main subject matter of the novel is appropriation and racist attitudes toward Black culture and Black people in America. It feels ironic to an insulting degree that Black people are mystical plot devices and background set pieces for a story supposedly critical of white privilege. There are no non-white characters for at least 50% of the book that are active participants in the story.
Somewhat frustrating but not on the same degree of irritation, the main characters are all really unlikeable. The narrator feels shame for the position of privilege he is by association with his wealthy, racist friends. He occasionally muses on how ignorant they are towards the irony of their love for Black culture and counter culture, but are living off of riches produced from real estate and the prison industrial complex. Seth is not compelling and had not yet to the point i reached in this book challenged anyone on their hypocrisy. Internally, he'll ponder it but quickly make excuses on their behalves.
It is especially frustrating to read *as* a queer Black biracial person who grew up in a predominantly white, mostly rural, region and has had a lifetime of experiences with microaggressions and outright racism. This book isn't for me. Maybe it will be eye opening for other readers, but I'm not the audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Police brutality
martinatan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall a really intriguing and haunting book that takes on the social issues of anti-Blackness, exploitation, and visibility in an intelligent and subtle way, through the horror genre.
I was originally taken aback by the chosen protagonists, but I understood they were made to be despised. I decided to stick with it, sensing some intentionality and eventual comeuppance, and their initial unlikeableness eventually paid off as I was made to pity the characters at face value but also sat with this underlying tension, knowing their social privilege.
It hit me about 50 pages in that I felt really gripped by the turn of events and then the progression continued to surprise me. The way Kunzru evolves the point of view towards the end gave me the sort of chills that I’ve previously had from reading Beloved. I felt that I was made to feel dissociated by it, and there were multiple times where I felt Kunzru successfully played with the immersion in a particular time, narrator, or belief system. Really delightfully surprised by the way the story and writing style progressed.
My overall takeaway, which the book’s title hints at, came through in a way that did not feel disrespectful to what I know of the Black experience in America. However, this is still an open question for me since I’m not Black, and I’d be curious to know what Black readers’ stance is on this piece of writing especially since the author is not themselves Black, nor American as far as I know. I’m also curious what the process of deciding to write this story was like since I’m not used to seeing non-Black, non-American authors write about this subject matter.
I was originally taken aback by the chosen protagonists, but I understood they were made to be despised. I decided to stick with it, sensing some intentionality and eventual comeuppance, and their initial unlikeableness eventually paid off as I was made to pity the characters at face value but also sat with this underlying tension, knowing their social privilege.
It hit me about 50 pages in that I felt really gripped by the turn of events and then the progression continued to surprise me. The way Kunzru evolves the point of view towards the end gave me the sort of chills that I’ve previously had from reading Beloved. I felt that I was made to feel dissociated by it, and there were multiple times where I felt Kunzru successfully played with the immersion in a particular time, narrator, or belief system. Really delightfully surprised by the way the story and writing style progressed.
My overall takeaway, which the book’s title hints at, came through in a way that did not feel disrespectful to what I know of the Black experience in America. However, this is still an open question for me since I’m not Black, and I’d be curious to know what Black readers’ stance is on this piece of writing especially since the author is not themselves Black, nor American as far as I know. I’m also curious what the process of deciding to write this story was like since I’m not used to seeing non-Black, non-American authors write about this subject matter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
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