A review by thebacklistborrower
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

Scarborough was the second Canada Reads 2022 book that I read, immediately after reading Five Little Indians, and is also a book ultimately about the connections we have and communities we make.

Scarborough follows the story of a cast of characters living in Scarborough, loosely connected through a literacy program offered through a local library, headed by a muslium woman named Ms Hina. While the program is intended to be only a literacy program, Ms Hina turns it into a social program, with meals for the many families who show up in need of breakfast or snack.
This book was slim but packs a punch. Like Five Little Indians (I’m going to stop saying this now), it was a hard read. The experiences in this book are real. They are happening right now, in Scarborough, and in my neighbourhood. The poverty, racism, sexism, and abuse are so real in this book. What saved me when reading this book was Ms Hina and a shelter supervisor who brought care to these folk who had so few people caring for them.

The connections in this book are in multitude: between Ms Hina and the kids in her program, and their parents; the connections between the kids themselves; kids and the street folk that live outside their homes, and the neighbours that look after them. Some of them are fleeting connections, like the man who heads to a gay hookup, and some are deep, if not lasting.

Any reader of this book will connect over the intensity of this book, and the stories it tells. Whether or not a reader has the lived experience of those in poverty, perhaps they have been the privileged kid looking down on those with less because that is what their parents--and society-- have taught them. Or they have been those like Ms Hina and the shelter worker, creating safe spaces and caring for all, despite everything. 

This was a beautiful book and will be one of my top picks this year. 
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