Marie Arnold - I Rise

Marie Arnold - I Rise 

5⭐

Genre: YA, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Race 

Pages:  320

Format: Paperback ARC 

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Date Published: 2nd August 2022 (USA), 1st September 2022 (UK)

Huge thank you to Harper360YA, Harper360UK for the ARC to read and review. 

 

Book Blurb: 

A heartbreaking and powerful novel about racism and social justice as fourteen-year-old Ayo has to decide whether to take on her mother's activist role when her mom is shot by police. As she tries to find answers, Ayo looks to the wisdom of her ancestors and her Harlem community for guidance.

Ayo's mother founded the biggest civil rights movement to hit New York City in decades. It’s called ‘See Us’ and it tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Ayo has spent her entire life being an activist and now, she wants out. She wants to get her first real kiss, have a boyfriend, and just be a normal teen.

When her mom is put into a coma after a riot breaks out between protesters and police, protestors want Ayo to become the face of See Us and fight for justice for her mother who can no longer fight for herself. While she deals with her grief and anger, Ayo must also discover if she has the strength to take over where her mother left off.

This impactful and unforgettable novel takes on the important issues of inequality, systemic racism, police violence, and social justice. 

My Review: 

Wow! What a book! I am so glad I had a chance to read the ARC of this book, thanks to Harper360YA. Such a powerful book was full of raw and real emotions and very strong characters. Arnold’s writing is just beautifully capturing the realities of Black communities in the USA. Loved this book so so much even though it left me speechless for days after I finished reading it!

The book follows a fourteen-year-old Ayo, the daughter of the founder of the ‘See Us’ movement, the biggest civil rights movement in Harlem, New York City. From a young age, Ayo’s mother taught her everything she needs to know to become the next leader of ‘See Us’, to carry the torch and follow in her mum’s footsteps. However, Ayo wants to live her teenage life carefreely. She wants to go on dates, have a boyfriend, go to parties, meet new people and make new friends. She doesn’t want to be stuck organising another ‘See Us’ movement or campaign. She is also adamant that she is not as strong as her mum, she can’t stand in front of thousands of people and talk about what is right or wrong. Her mum thinks differently, thus even the idea of Ayo quitting ‘See Us’ is unbearable for her mum. However, Ayo is adamant to quit and start her normal teenage life, but can she ever truly be a normal teenager? Especially after a horrific tragedy happens to her mum, will Ayo be able to ever become a normal teenager?

This book covers so many subjects and topics, from police brutality to racism, from struggles Black people face every day to activism, from microaggressions to race in US educational system. It also covers the coming of age and wanting to be a normal carefree teenager, as well as issues and struggles that come with it. This book is so educational, truthful, real and most importantly raw with feelings and emotions. I liked how different viewpoints on racism and microaggression are portrayed and talked about in this book, displaying why it is hard to sometimes have that unified opinion about racism and microaggression.

I loved how Arnold gave so much depth to each of the characters in this book. I loved Ayo’s character so much, as she is just a teenager with already so much weight on her shoulder. She tries to balance so much at once, as she has expectations from people to live up to but also at the same time, she has her own growing up to do and other issues to deal with in her everyday life, such as people being racist or aggressive or different towards her because she is a Black girl. The strength she found when a horrific tragedy happened to her mum and the challenges Ayo overcame to realise that she is just as strong as her mum were so emotional to read. Ayo’s character just felt so real and genuine that there were parts where I sobbed reading this book.

Overall: I honestly loved this book so much! It left me speechless for days and although it is aimed primarily at YA, I learned so much from this book, too. I hope this book gets the recognition it deserves because it is such an important book, exploring topics that each of us needs to educate ourselves about. It also displays that the power of unity and standing up together can make and will make a change. Honestly, a must-read book and I can’t wait to read more of Marie Arnold’s work. 

About the Author:

Marie Arnold was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and came to America at the age of seven. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York alongside her extended family. Marie enjoys creating stories full of adventure, and wonder, which center on girls of colour. When she's not writing, she's adding to her insanely long Netflix queue and trying not to order pizza. She lives in Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of The Year I Flew Away and I Rise.

https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/marie-arnold-2022553757860

Raven Leilani- Luster

 

Raven Leilani- Luster 

3 ⭐

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Race, Literary Fiction 

Pages:  227

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Picador 

Date Published: 21st January 2021

Big thank you to Picador for gifting me a copy for a The Motherload Book Club (Facebook) readalong.

Book Blurb: 

Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort of agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young black woman wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric’s home and family.

Razor sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now.

My Review: 

I had such high hopes for this book, as I read so many amazing reviews and saw people raving about this book all over the Bookstagram and BookTube. So naturally, I expected Luster to be amazing...but from the very beginning of this book, I realised that I hoped for more. More character development and a more engaging plot. At times I wanted to DNF this book, but I persevered and read it cover to cover…

The book follows a 23-year-old Eddie, who hates her job in a publishing company, as she wants to pursue her true ambition, painting. She also has an affair with Eric, who’s not only a middle-aged white man but is also in an open marriage. One day she suddenly losses her job and Rebecca, who is Eric’s wife decides to take Eddie into their house so she can help and look after their adoptive teenager Akila. The book explores and shows emotions from Eddie’s POV, how she deals with losing her job, her affair, living with Eric’s family, and her relationship with Rebecca and Akila.

I do think that Leilani is a talented writer, as some parts of the book are beautifully written, especially when she sets the scenes in such a flowy and descriptive manner. At times her writing did make me feel like I am there seeing the world from Eddie’s POV.

However, I found it so hard to connect with Eddie’s character. For me, she felt so flat, cold, detached, sarcastic and rude. It felt like for most parts she doesn’t care about anyone or anything. At times she even felt so hypocritical, especially when she says she wants to be an artist and that her ambition to do that is so strong but really doesn’t try her hardest to build her career and when it hits a barrier, she just blames it on society or the environment. I felt that she was a bit too naïve for someone who is supposed to be a 23-year-old with a degree. Her character just frustrated me so much and I honestly thought there is going to be some evolution and growth in her throughout the book but there wasn’t…

I wanted to know more of a backstory of Eric, Rebecca and Akila. I must say I liked the depiction of Eric and Akila in the book. I think these two characters were really well thought out and had quite a lot of substance to them. However, I felt that I didn’t get to know Rebecca’s character that well and I would have loved to know more about the backstory of that couple and how they came about to be in an open marriage, as I think that would’ve helped to understand Eric and Rebecca as characters more (and even relate to them).

I also think the plot of this book had so much more potential, especially to explore relationships between the characters and certain themes, such as race, identity, belonging, and family in more depth but it missed the opportunity to do so.

Overall, there were aspects of this book I enjoyed, especially Leilani’s writing but could not connect with some of the characters and the plot. I would definitely give Leilani’s writing another go if she writes another novel, but this story is not for me. 

About the Author: 

Raven's debut novel, Luster, is forthcoming from FSG August 2020. Her work has been published in Granta, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Narrative, Yale Review, Conjunctions, The Cut, and New England Review, among other publications. She completed her MFA at NYU. 

https://ravenleilani.weebly.com/

Tara M. Stringfellow - Memphis

 

Tara M. Stringfellow - Memphis 

5 ⭐

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Race, Literary Fiction.

Pages: 258

Format: Paperback ARC

Publisher: John Murray Press 

Date Published: 7th April 2022 (UK)

Big thanks to John Murray Press for the ARC and for TandemCollectiveUK for having me on their #MemphisReadalong #TandemReadalong.

Book Blurb: 

In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father's violence, seeking refuge at her mother's ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan's grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighbourhood of Douglass--only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn't the first time violence altered the course of Joan's family's trajectory, and she knows it won't be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis--including their enigmatic neighbour Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition--and the women in her family as her guides to healing--that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.

Inspired by the author's own family history, Memphis--the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read--explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.

My Review: 

Wow, just wow! What a debut by Tara M. Stringfellow! I cried and I laughed and cried again…and then went through so many other emotions….Honestly, it is such a beautifully written book about the lives of three generations of women in the North family. This book gripped me from the very first chapter and the truth is I wanted to read it all in one sitting, but since I was a part of #TandemCollectiveUK #MemphisReadalong I couldn’t read it all at once.

The book follows three generations of women in North Family over 70 years. Chapters are multiple POVs and jump the timeline, but this is what made me intrigued and gripped me even more. The chapters and their non-linearity tell a story in a way that shows how each of the lives of these women are interlinked, not only because these women are related but also by the things, they all had to live through – the traumas, hurt, pain, loss…

The trauma that Southern black women have been and are experiencing, such as racism, domestic abuse, discrimination, rape, and brutality of police was heart-breaking to read. I loved how the author displayed how all of that made the North family and their neighbours resilient, strong, ambitious and determined to fight for what is right, for their rights and voices to be heard.

For me, the characters that stood out the most are Hazel and Joan, by are so similar to each other, although they haven’t met each other and lived in a very different version of Memphis. There is that fire in both of them that fuels their ambition, their determination and their love for their family and their love for Memphis.

Overall: At times this book didn’t feel like I was reading a piece of fiction, as everything that happened in the book felt so raw and real. It is that well and beautifully written. I honestly could’ve read more and more about the North family, and would’ve loved it if there were any chapters from Mya’s POV.

I am usually quite critical of books but I couldn’t even find one negative thing about this book. It is one of the best, if not the best, books that I have read this year. I truly think it should be on everyone’s TRB because this book will not disappoint.

I really can’t wait for what the talented Tara M. Stringfellow writes next as I will be definitely reading that.

About the Author: 

Former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and Pushcart Prize nominee Tara M. Stringfellow’s debut novel Memphis (Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House) is a multi-generational bildungsroman based on the author’s rich Civil Rights history.

A recent winner of the Book Pipeline Fiction Contest, Memphis was recognized for its clear path to film or TV series adaptation and is due out in 2022. Third World Press published her first collection of poetry entitled More than Dancing in 2008.

A cross-genre artist, the author was Northwestern University’s first MFA graduate in both poetry and prose and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, as well as Best of the Net.

Her poems have appeared in Collective Unrest, Jet Fuel Review, Minerva Rising, Women’s Arts Quarterly, Transitions and Apogee Journal, among others.

If she isn’t writing, she’s gardening. If she isn’t in Memphis, she’s in Italy.

https://www.instagram.com/tarastringfellow/

Trevor Noah - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

 

Trevor Noah - Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood 

 5 ⭐

Genre: Autobiography, Biography, Humour, True Story, Race.

Pages: 305

Format:  Hardback

Favourite Quote: 'You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all' (Page 5).

Book Blurb: 

One of the comedy world's brightest new voices, Trevor Noah is a light-footed but sharp-minded observer of the absurdities of politics, race and identity, sharing jokes and insights drawn from the wealth of experience acquired in his relatively young life. A collection of eighteen personal stories, Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young boy growing into a restless young man as he struggles to find his place in a world where he was never supposed to exist. Born a Crime is equally the story of that young man's fearless, rebellious and fervently religious mother - a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse that ultimately threatens her own life.

My Review: 

This is my first 5-star book of 2022 and honestly, I was completely in love with this book. It was so well written, I just couldn't put it down and will be definitely re-reading it in a near future. 

What I loved the most is that Trevor's childhood experiences, good or bad, were mixed together with snippets of the history of South Africa. It really helped me, someone, who is not familiar with South African history, to be able to understand his story and his experiences. 

I loved how this book wasn't a sugar-coated version of his childhood. The way he wrote it was really personal and all the way through the book, one minute I was crying and the next I was laughing. It was a definite emotional rollercoaster kind of book...

I knew Trevor Noah from his stand-up shows and always found him a funny and relatable comedian. His humour is not only funny but also teaches us a lot about race, languages, cultures, etc. This book, however, made me truly admire and respect him for always seeing the bright side and positivity even in the bleakest and hardest times.  

Overall: It is a MUST READ! For me, it covered some very serious topics, that I personally can relate to, including racism and wanting to be accepted and to belong somewhere. This book also gave me an in-depth view of how it was like to grow up in South Africa as a coloured person and made me realise that sometimes we take things in life for granted. This book showed the struggles, funny moments, determination of Trevor Noah, which is truly inspirational and admirable. Also, what I also admired is his love for his mum, especially for raising him to reach opportunities from a very young age.