A review by elissazimmer
If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

3.0

This book takes on a LOT--Blackness, queerness, family relationships, open relationships, fatness and body positivity, intersection of being Black and fat and female, and more. Sometimes I was confused, perhaps because a lot of these identities are not my own and I struggled to relate and to read between the line, and perhaps sometimes because there was just so much going on. I did have to stop myself at first from putting whatever stereotypes I have consumed about Black families and intergenerational relationships on this story and I accepted and celebrated this as one representation of many possibilities (that white people are afford automatically). I appreciated Winnie's introspection, and the fact that things weren't wrapped in a bow and boxed up at the end. For Winnie, there were some tough realizations about her relationship with Granny that couldn't just be solved in the span of a summer or a few weeks, but Kann leaves room for hope that maybe things could be better. She definitely hinted at the trauma experienced by someone of Granny's generation. I wonder if you need a little bit of life experience to understand all the moving parts in this book but maybe I'm selling younger teens short. It was a lot to take in but still a good read.