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A review by gggina13
There Goes the Neighborhood by Jade Adia
5.0
Dude, Jade Adia has a TALENTTT, her writing is such a breath of fresh air :') this is her debut book and I am going to eat up whatever she writes next!!
Rhea is 15 and she's in a friend trio with Zeke and Malachi. They have noticed that small "trendy" businesses in their LA neighborhood have been taking over their local favorite spots, closing down the businesses that have been around forever. It's pretty obvious that their neighborhood is slowly being gentrified, and there's nothing they can do.
Until Zeke's disabled mother gets the noticed that they'll be evicted soon, as their apartment building will be sold and turned into a more luxury living space. The kids have finally been pushed to their breaking point, as they don't want to be split up, especially Rhea. She doesn't feel confident that the three of them can survive splitting up - she's the only girl, and Zeke's into nerdy stuff, and Malachi has guys he balls with, and Rhea really just has those two. So she scrambles to come up with an idea, any idea, to save Zeke and his family and keep them in their apartment.
Rhea's idea is SO absurd. I really feel like Jade Adia took that tweet that says "every few months I shoot out my apartment window to keep my rent low" and ran with it lol. Which is a total compliment!!! The idea is soooo creative for a book and I'm so excited about the concept.
Rhea decides to stage a fake gang's formation in order to scare gentrifiers out of the area. She and the guys come up with a graffiti tag, spend hours filming fake gang sightings and shootings, and post both digital and physical media stirring the community up.
In the midst of orchestrating their plan, the kids meet Lou and Marley, a brother-sister duo that are new to the neighborhood. Lou and Zeke hit it off pretty quickly, and Malachi shows a little interest in Marley. Malachi has shown interest in Rhea previously, but she shut him down because she's afraid of their friend group changing. Both jealousy and more fear of change keeps her from accepting Marley and Lou, and she actually ends up being kind of mean to them. It's sad but I also soooo get being standoffish at first until you get to know someone lol. I would be interested in Rhea's sign because she has to be a fire sign lol
The gang, which the kids have named SOSI, really starts to take off, and stressfully, people start claiming to be affiliated with the gang. It's wild, because there's not actually a gang to be affiliated with, but the kids can't tell anyone the newcomers are lying, and they also can't all agree on how far is too far to take SOSI.
But it takes itself far enough when SOSI is accused of killing a man that turns up dead late one night. Things escalate pretty quickly, and in order to save their own asses, they start working to solve the man's murder to absolve SOSI of the blame.
This book highlights the sense of community that Rhea's neighborhood displays, and it also brings attention to the lack of community that other social classes can have. There's plenty of people in the community who take care of Rhea, especially since her mom is very absent in her life. There's an Auntie who is super supportive of everyone in the neighborhood, and she's also trans, and tries her best to make all the queer kids in the neighborhood especially feel that they have a safe adult in their lives. Lou has autism, and his preference for wearing noise-cancelling headphones and liking firm contact (and hating soft brushes of touch) are just a few of his characteristics that are shown in the book. The inclusivity in this book is so great :')
Rhea has such different relationships with everyone in her life, and it's conveyed so well. Her desire to further things with Malachi and her hesitance to "ruin" their friendship is the kind of mixed feeling so many people can relate to. And the way she comes around and warms up to Marley is so sweet; she never knew how much she was missing having a girl friend until she found one.
This is TOTALLY worth the read, the thriller-ish storyline is really fun to follow, but the authentic characterization and setting, alongside Rhea's realistic feelings about everything, is where the book totally shines.
Rhea is 15 and she's in a friend trio with Zeke and Malachi. They have noticed that small "trendy" businesses in their LA neighborhood have been taking over their local favorite spots, closing down the businesses that have been around forever. It's pretty obvious that their neighborhood is slowly being gentrified, and there's nothing they can do.
Until Zeke's disabled mother gets the noticed that they'll be evicted soon, as their apartment building will be sold and turned into a more luxury living space. The kids have finally been pushed to their breaking point, as they don't want to be split up, especially Rhea. She doesn't feel confident that the three of them can survive splitting up - she's the only girl, and Zeke's into nerdy stuff, and Malachi has guys he balls with, and Rhea really just has those two. So she scrambles to come up with an idea, any idea, to save Zeke and his family and keep them in their apartment.
Rhea's idea is SO absurd. I really feel like Jade Adia took that tweet that says "every few months I shoot out my apartment window to keep my rent low" and ran with it lol. Which is a total compliment!!! The idea is soooo creative for a book and I'm so excited about the concept.
Rhea decides to stage a fake gang's formation in order to scare gentrifiers out of the area. She and the guys come up with a graffiti tag, spend hours filming fake gang sightings and shootings, and post both digital and physical media stirring the community up.
In the midst of orchestrating their plan, the kids meet Lou and Marley, a brother-sister duo that are new to the neighborhood. Lou and Zeke hit it off pretty quickly, and Malachi shows a little interest in Marley. Malachi has shown interest in Rhea previously, but she shut him down because she's afraid of their friend group changing. Both jealousy and more fear of change keeps her from accepting Marley and Lou, and she actually ends up being kind of mean to them. It's sad but I also soooo get being standoffish at first until you get to know someone lol. I would be interested in Rhea's sign because she has to be a fire sign lol
The gang, which the kids have named SOSI, really starts to take off, and stressfully, people start claiming to be affiliated with the gang. It's wild, because there's not actually a gang to be affiliated with, but the kids can't tell anyone the newcomers are lying, and they also can't all agree on how far is too far to take SOSI.
But it takes itself far enough when SOSI is accused of killing a man that turns up dead late one night. Things escalate pretty quickly, and in order to save their own asses, they start working to solve the man's murder to absolve SOSI of the blame.
This book highlights the sense of community that Rhea's neighborhood displays, and it also brings attention to the lack of community that other social classes can have. There's plenty of people in the community who take care of Rhea, especially since her mom is very absent in her life. There's an Auntie who is super supportive of everyone in the neighborhood, and she's also trans, and tries her best to make all the queer kids in the neighborhood especially feel that they have a safe adult in their lives. Lou has autism, and his preference for wearing noise-cancelling headphones and liking firm contact (and hating soft brushes of touch) are just a few of his characteristics that are shown in the book. The inclusivity in this book is so great :')
Rhea has such different relationships with everyone in her life, and it's conveyed so well. Her desire to further things with Malachi and her hesitance to "ruin" their friendship is the kind of mixed feeling so many people can relate to. And the way she comes around and warms up to Marley is so sweet; she never knew how much she was missing having a girl friend until she found one.
This is TOTALLY worth the read, the thriller-ish storyline is really fun to follow, but the authentic characterization and setting, alongside Rhea's realistic feelings about everything, is where the book totally shines.