A review by yetanothersusan
Elsewhere, California by Dana Johnson

5.0

This book was freakishly weird and good. Avery is a Black girl growing up in SoCal. She is the same age as me so a trip through her childhood touched on the same childhood I had. Except I was a white girl in NorCal. Instead of listing the ways in which we were similar or different, I will tell you that these points made the story that much more alive for me! Ah, Shaun Cassidy! My first boyfriend. She got me right away with that. And random meals made with odd cupboard findings, oh yes, been there, ate those! But for those who did not see reflections of their own lives in Avery's story, the themes were still incredibly poignant and obvious. The divide between her worlds is wide and watching her navigate between who she is, who others see her as, and who she wants to be drills right to the heart of being female and Black. I loved that the story felt realistic and not sugar coated.