A review by amandalorianxo
The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I mistook this novel to be in the horror/thriller genre but it’s actually historical fiction which I was ok with. At first, once I got about 20/30% in I was confused on where the timeline was going. But I realized this was being told backwards. We meet Ava and her son, who are in Philly after leaving Alabama. We aren’t 100% sure why Ava and her child are so far from home but the backwards story telling reveals the beginning of Ava’s romance with Cass, her son’s father and the disruption that caused everything to fall apart. This almost was a four star read for me but I felt like the disjointed storytelling gave me a little bit of whiplash. Otherwise, an important viewpoint of Black lives from the 80’s as well as the 60’s.