Reviews

Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair

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deehawkins74's review

4.0

This was my live book club's Book of the Month. It was really good. I laughed a lot while reading this book.

A really fascinating look at a time and place I've never been, through the eyes of a very relatable kid. I expected more gayness/bi-ness, but that was mostly in the next book (with a bit of questioning here--and yeah her epic megacrush at the end was very recognizable, haha).

evelikesbooks's review

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4.0

Based on the title and cover image one might think this is a fairly fluffy romance-type novel. It's not. It's a coming-of-age story -- a young girl growing up in Chicago in the 1960s. The author treats in-depth issues of colorism in the Black community (the idea that lighter-skinned people are more attractive/better -- especially girls/women), and the debate over wearing natural hair. Stevie, the main character, gets more radicalized over time as she sees the different ways people around her navigate being Black in a racist society. A little heavy-handed, perhaps, but enjoyable and enlightening.

eiliux's review

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3.0

Leí este libro porque en el último que leí (The Overdue Life of Amy Byler), la protagonista contaba que la regañaron por dejarlo de leer a sus alumnos y me dio curiosidad. Sin proponérmelo, es el segundo libro que leo en un par de semanas acerca de la historia afroamericana en Estados Unidos. El primero (dos en realidad: la flor del azafrán amarillo y un granito de mostaza) alrededor de la época de la guerra de secesión y este alrededor de los derechos civiles. Libros muy distintos desde en la forma en la que fueron escritos hasta en la personalidad de las protagonistas pero ambos me dejaron el mismo mensaje: es increíble que tantos años después, sigamos tan concentrados en lo que nos separa en lugar de encontrar aquello que nos une.
Una lectura divertida y enriquecedora.

joyful24's review

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4.0

great coming of age story about an african american girl in the 60s chicago!!!

librarylapin's review

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3.0

This was a cute book for teenagers that is interesting especially considering the timeline it deals with. I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have because I think I was expecting something else but it was fun and touched on some of the political issues that were happening in the late sixties.

lattelibrarian's review

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5.0

I'm a coffee lover, so when I saw this title, I knew I had to read it. Then, naturally, the title hit me once I actually came to read it: I knew immediately that I was in for a treat reminiscent of my college days where I read Morrison, Whitehead, and Petry.

All Stevie wants to do is become friends with Carla, to know what it's like to be popular. But as she befriends this girl, she is thrust into a world in which friends play tricks on each other, gossip, and start talking about periods and sex. As Stevie grows, so does this Civil Rights Movement: Dr. King is assassinated and local young men are passing around copies of Malcolm X's biography. The tensions between white and black folks become thick and tense, but Stevie finds that she can confide with their white school nurse about her worries about boys, losing her virginity, and questioning her sexuality.

This is all interspersed with commentary about gender--why do her brothers never have to wash the dishes?--as well as intergenerational strife--her mother lied about her school days to make her grandmother happy. Coffee Will Make You Black also offers thoughts on class, religion, and education making this coming of age story one that is both informative and relatable.

19paws's review

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4.0

A wonderful coming of age novel about a black girl growing up on the south side of Chicago in the 1960s Civil Rights era. Stevie's voice has such an authentic quality and I assume this was based on the author's own experience as a teenager.