Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - In Every Mirror She's Black

The sadness and foreboding permeated this book. Even when the ladies were happy, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. A wholly aptivating storytelling style that wouldn't let me look away.

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kmyr1123's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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peachani's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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lauravreads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book follows 3 different Black women and their immigration to Sweden. Kemi is a Marketing executive from DC and moved to Sweden for a job opportunity. Brittany is a flight attendant from Atlanta and finds herself in Sweden after she begins a relationship with a frequent traveler from Sweden. Muna is a refugee from Somalia living in an asylum for refugees.

Each of these women has wildly different experiences due to their personal circumstances. As expected Muna has the hardest time finding employment, and receiving legal documents. However, they all share a similar experience of being a Black woman. They deal with racism, fetishization, and tokenization. These characters did not interact much rather they each had their individual storyline.

Out of the three women I found Kemi the most relatable character. As she moved to Sweden for work, her story focuses a lot on workplace racism, tokenism, work relationsips, and exploitation. I absolutely LOVED how professional she is! There were so many instances where I was just so proud of the way she handled certain situations.

I found Muna to be the most loveable character however her story was very emotional and serious. Her story highlighted inequities, classism, and international politics. Brittany on the other hand was a very frustrating character. Her storyline was very dramatic but lighthearted at the same time. Her story almost felt like a telenovela or sitcom. However, it did highlight fetishization and white privilege.

**Spoiler Ahead**

Jonny is another main character in this novel. As soon as he was introduced I noticed that he had a lot of the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the last 10% of the book, it is disclosed that he was indeed on the spectrum but undiagnosed and protected by his immense wealth. I feel that this highlighted the stigma regarding ASD as well as the ablism in society. I am glad that he was held accountable for his actions rather than excused for his ASD. However, I did feel that it fed a bit into the negative stereotype of people with ASD.

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zakiyaj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A haunting depiction of Black women attempting to navigate through society. Three stories that intertwine only once. I related to a lot of pieces of each character

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ganzareads's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

1.0

I do not understand the high rating of this book. There was no story, just three black women suffering page after page because of their skin color. It was really hard to root for Kemi and Brittany who kept on falling for white men who were OBVIOUSLY racist and/or fetichist? Muna deserved so much better though. Throughout the book, the author decided to paint the characters as lacking any sort of agency and just being victims of racism? This book especially the ending made me so angry. This felt like black trauma porn and I wish I had been warned.

PS: Also wtf with the Jonny's autism being used as an excuse for his racist and predatory behaviour throughout the book only for the author at the end to imply that if he had been accepted as being on the autistic spectrum and supported with appropriate tools he would be less racist? Ugh I'm so angry

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owlliecat's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Three women of color with very different careers, all somehow intertwined with a white man.
The perspective of what life is like for black women in predominantly white northern countries was a much needed read. All 3 women faced some sort of sad ending, leaving the discussion open for how POC are still treated in today's world.

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