A review by skylarkblue1
Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle
5.0
Content warnings: Sexual assault (a lot and also towards underage characters), sexual harassment, violence, death, murder, misogyny, racism, slavery, loss of a loved one
An empowering tale of a young kick-ass enslaved-but-now-free black girl. And boy is she a badass! Along with her new-found friends, Kemosha fights tooth and nail for the freedom of her friends and family back on the plantation she came from - and for her new found love.
I loved the writing, you could feel the emotions and actions. The characters' arcs felt good and made sense for the most part (even with Kemosha’s very fast learning, I feel like that is more than feasible in that kind of environment) and the progression of the story made sense. The ending felt good and solid though I would love to read even a short story about the events after that ending. The use of Creole and Spanish alongside the base English made the book feel unique and have a lot more character. It was certainly a surprise when I started to read the book, but was a very pleasant one nonetheless!
The morals and messaging of the book isn’t hidden even slightly. Kemosha comes from a Jamaican plantain, a slave who’s brutally treated alongside the other slaves there. She’s sold off to a man, who doesn’t try to hide the fact he’s wanting her *body* to make money with. This book doesn’t shy away from how horrific conditions were towards Black people back then, but that does make me minorly concerned about the fact this book is marketed towards children as young as 12 even. There is a lot of sexual assault that happens, on page and off and it’s nearly constantly talked about. Additionally with all the violence, death and severe grief, I can’t see how this can be suitable for children so young, even as an educational tool.
In short, I highly recommend this. Just make sure you’re aware of the content warnings before diving into this as it does get very heavy. It is not a story about a trauma-ridden black girl suffering through life, it’s a story of perseverance in the face of injustice, fighting for what you feel is right, fighting for love, friends and life.
An empowering tale of a young kick-ass enslaved-but-now-free black girl. And boy is she a badass! Along with her new-found friends, Kemosha fights tooth and nail for the freedom of her friends and family back on the plantation she came from - and for her new found love.
I loved the writing, you could feel the emotions and actions. The characters' arcs felt good and made sense for the most part (even with Kemosha’s very fast learning, I feel like that is more than feasible in that kind of environment) and the progression of the story made sense. The ending felt good and solid though I would love to read even a short story about the events after that ending. The use of Creole and Spanish alongside the base English made the book feel unique and have a lot more character. It was certainly a surprise when I started to read the book, but was a very pleasant one nonetheless!
The morals and messaging of the book isn’t hidden even slightly. Kemosha comes from a Jamaican plantain, a slave who’s brutally treated alongside the other slaves there. She’s sold off to a man, who doesn’t try to hide the fact he’s wanting her *body* to make money with. This book doesn’t shy away from how horrific conditions were towards Black people back then, but that does make me minorly concerned about the fact this book is marketed towards children as young as 12 even. There is a lot of sexual assault that happens, on page and off and it’s nearly constantly talked about. Additionally with all the violence, death and severe grief, I can’t see how this can be suitable for children so young, even as an educational tool.
In short, I highly recommend this. Just make sure you’re aware of the content warnings before diving into this as it does get very heavy. It is not a story about a trauma-ridden black girl suffering through life, it’s a story of perseverance in the face of injustice, fighting for what you feel is right, fighting for love, friends and life.