A review by bookbrig
Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner-City Funeral Home by Sheri Booker

informative medium-paced

3.0

I enjoyed this, and it was a compelling read, but it I think I wanted a different story than the one the author was telling. It's really interesting, and I loved hearing about the mortuary preparations and surrounding community, but I was a bit less interested in the more personal details of the story. My other small issue was the use of a transgendered slur. I recognize that the book is recounting a story about a different time, and so language used might be less acceptable, but the part I found problematic was that the language was incorporated not into what was said at the time, but as a descriptor. I know that I lean toward "politically correct" language, but that's because certain terms really are used as hate-speech and slurs, and I don't think it's unreasonable to replace them with more modern equivalents that aren't hurtful and loaded. If the term were used in a direct quote, fine, but since that really isn't the case - the individual is described to the reader using a slur, as though it's the same type of descriptor as the deceased's age - I wish an editor or someone had caught it and changed the language. 
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