A review by leigh716
Why We Fly by Gilly Segal, Kimberly Jones
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
2/5 MAJOR LETDOWN
This book was a major let down and not at all what the cover promised. I was hoping this would be a story about high school students stepping into the world of racial inequality and peaceful protesting but this is NOT at all what I got.
To start, the pacing was all over the place. It started painstakingly slow, with a lot of premise building that was never revisited or didn’t pay off, then was so fast paced at the end that I couldn’t keep straight what going on. Literally had no idea what month we were in half the time. Things happened, like Lenny getting accepted to a college, that barely got a passing mention, while other things like Nelly’s weed addiction was the main focus for far too long and was never really resolved.
There were WAY too many storylines, most of which didn’t feel relevant to the original plot of the story. Lenny and Nelly had storylines that didn’t need to be there (the concussion, the weed), and the focus turned from them protesting and the resulting repercussions of that to them whining about their lives. Things happened, like Nelly being punished and no one else, that could’ve been focused on instead. They never really revisited the topic of protesting or WHY they were protesting in the first place, and/or their reasoning for supporting Cody Knight. Essentially, anything of importance from the first half was dropped and forgotten about.
By the time I got to the end, I was furious at how nearly everything had been wrapped up or completely ignored. Three gets to play college football, Nelly got praised and the special scholarship despite not really doing ANYTHING, and there was a total lack of conclusion for Lenny. Poor Lenny, who was actually making an effort to be involved in some sort of social justice was left with a “maybe she’ll make the cheerleading team” and “maybe she’ll see Three again”. What a consolation prize for her.
Also, I truly hated some of the characters, while others felt like the weren’t even fully fleshed out. Nelly came off as “holier than thou” and truly seemed to dislike the girl she claims is her best friend. Nelly completely disregards Lenny dealing with her previous injuries, and by the end completely shrugs off their entire friendship “since they’ll be going to college and growing apart anyways”. Three spends the entire book stringing Lenny along, was against them protesting in the first place, refused to do anything else following the protests, was incredibly rude to Lenny and called her a distraction to him, then was praised like he was the hero of the story. He had nothing to do with the protests and didn’t do anything following the original protest, but received a ‘special shout-out from Cody Knight’ on college signing day. Also his parents were AWFUL, mean to Lenny, and super confusing in their treatment of their son.
My biggest issue lies in the fact that this book could have been good had there been more focus on the actual social justice aspect. There easily could’ve been three perspectives (Lenny - a white Jewish girl, Nelly - a black girl, and Three - a black guy), and their own experiences tied to peaceful protesting and work with social justice following them taking a knee. Instead, they completely avoided approaching WHY Three was against protesting as young Black male, WHY Nelly as a Black woman was the only one punished, or HOW Lenny’s Jewish roots and ties to her friends made her part of this as well. All of this was dropped and the second half of the book focused on ‘normal teenage high school stuff’ instead of really diving into how protesting (or not protesting) impacted their lives. Overall, super disappointed and a total waste of my time.
(I listened to this as an audiobook, and despised the girls doing the readings for each character. It took me forever to get through as an audiobook, but probably wouldn’t have finished this had I read it as a physical book)
This book was a major let down and not at all what the cover promised. I was hoping this would be a story about high school students stepping into the world of racial inequality and peaceful protesting but this is NOT at all what I got.
To start, the pacing was all over the place. It started painstakingly slow, with a lot of premise building that was never revisited or didn’t pay off, then was so fast paced at the end that I couldn’t keep straight what going on. Literally had no idea what month we were in half the time. Things happened, like Lenny getting accepted to a college, that barely got a passing mention, while other things like Nelly’s weed addiction was the main focus for far too long and was never really resolved.
There were WAY too many storylines, most of which didn’t feel relevant to the original plot of the story. Lenny and Nelly had storylines that didn’t need to be there (the concussion, the weed), and the focus turned from them protesting and the resulting repercussions of that to them whining about their lives. Things happened, like Nelly being punished and no one else, that could’ve been focused on instead. They never really revisited the topic of protesting or WHY they were protesting in the first place, and/or their reasoning for supporting Cody Knight. Essentially, anything of importance from the first half was dropped and forgotten about.
By the time I got to the end, I was furious at how nearly everything had been wrapped up or completely ignored. Three gets to play college football, Nelly got praised and the special scholarship despite not really doing ANYTHING, and there was a total lack of conclusion for Lenny. Poor Lenny, who was actually making an effort to be involved in some sort of social justice was left with a “maybe she’ll make the cheerleading team” and “maybe she’ll see Three again”. What a consolation prize for her.
Also, I truly hated some of the characters, while others felt like the weren’t even fully fleshed out. Nelly came off as “holier than thou” and truly seemed to dislike the girl she claims is her best friend. Nelly completely disregards Lenny dealing with her previous injuries, and by the end completely shrugs off their entire friendship “since they’ll be going to college and growing apart anyways”. Three spends the entire book stringing Lenny along, was against them protesting in the first place, refused to do anything else following the protests, was incredibly rude to Lenny and called her a distraction to him, then was praised like he was the hero of the story. He had nothing to do with the protests and didn’t do anything following the original protest, but received a ‘special shout-out from Cody Knight’ on college signing day. Also his parents were AWFUL, mean to Lenny, and super confusing in their treatment of their son.
My biggest issue lies in the fact that this book could have been good had there been more focus on the actual social justice aspect. There easily could’ve been three perspectives (Lenny - a white Jewish girl, Nelly - a black girl, and Three - a black guy), and their own experiences tied to peaceful protesting and work with social justice following them taking a knee. Instead, they completely avoided approaching WHY Three was against protesting as young Black male, WHY Nelly as a Black woman was the only one punished, or HOW Lenny’s Jewish roots and ties to her friends made her part of this as well. All of this was dropped and the second half of the book focused on ‘normal teenage high school stuff’ instead of really diving into how protesting (or not protesting) impacted their lives. Overall, super disappointed and a total waste of my time.
(I listened to this as an audiobook, and despised the girls doing the readings for each character. It took me forever to get through as an audiobook, but probably wouldn’t have finished this had I read it as a physical book)