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melsage1823's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Disclaimer: As a non black reader, my review my unintentionally have bias. Please check out own voices reviews to get proper qualified opinions on the representation.
An emotional, raw and brutally honest story about racism in the UK and how it can affect young black teens.
I loved this novel so much, it touched my heart and had me crying almost every chapter. Jawando knows how to write authentic raw povs that made me really connect with the characters of Chantelle, Jackson and Marc. She managed to tell an incredible story of how injustice can affect people and how messed up the justice system.
This novel was perfect and definitely deserves five stars. Honestly it's flaws are easily dismissable due to how much of punch this story is. It felt like a brutal wake up call to how bad racism is in the UK and that it doesn't just happen in America its everywhere. I'll get into my two flaws before getting into what I liked.
Firstly as someone who only left high school a few years ago as of this review, I can assure you that Grade 10 does not exist. GCSES go from grade U-9 with 9 being the highest. Jawando does an absolutely brilliant job of bringing the town of Manchester to life so as a result its super jarring to hear about grades that don't exist. I hope for future novels she does more research so mistakes like that don't happen.
Finally it's a minor nit pick but I thought I'd call it out. Although as a queer person I loved the representation I feel like they should have ratioed the relationships a bit better. It kinda feels like the heterosexual relationship in this book was an afterthought which is such a shame since there's not much black queer representation out there. No shade to the heterosexual relationship in the book though, they were a cute well built up couple.
Right, onto my main positives. First I loved how diverse the story was. Without spoiling anything Jawando showcases all the different struggles black people face in the UK in a meaningful and sensitive way. From fostercare to the justice system to the education system Jawando makes sure to show how rigged the system is against black people. She even shows how class doesn't help black people much at all. Being broad and diverse made this an educational read too I feel like if the novel only focused on the injustice of Shaqs stabbing it would have felt hallow so I'm glad Jawando wrote incredible storylines for all three of our main characters.
Secondly I loved the characters. Writing multi pov requires a lot of pratice and Jawando succeeds at this massively. Jackson, Marc and Chantelle are all fleshed out equally and given their own character arcs that are wrapped up beautifully. We see not only how Shaqs stabbing has affected them and changed them but also struggling and coping with the regular injustices that come their way as black teenagers. The trios dynamic is developed across the story too and it makes you come to route and care about their friendship.
Finally the ending. Without giving any spoilers the ending happens at the right pace and also happens in a realistic way. If I were to describe it I'd say its like a punch in the face and then a bitter sweet taste. Its sad and happy but also realistic. Through her genius writing Jawando makes the reader understand that with how strife racism is in the UK a happy ending wasn't realistic but its not completely hopeless. I also like how the ending was kinda foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book.
Overall a raw but incredibly real and elegantly written story with well developed characters, good foreshadowing and an incredible black solidarity friendship at the forefront of everything. Highly recommended, I'm so glad I picked this up even though it wasn't on my list.
An emotional, raw and brutally honest story about racism in the UK and how it can affect young black teens.
I loved this novel so much, it touched my heart and had me crying almost every chapter. Jawando knows how to write authentic raw povs that made me really connect with the characters of Chantelle, Jackson and Marc. She managed to tell an incredible story of how injustice can affect people and how messed up the justice system.
This novel was perfect and definitely deserves five stars. Honestly it's flaws are easily dismissable due to how much of punch this story is. It felt like a brutal wake up call to how bad racism is in the UK and that it doesn't just happen in America its everywhere. I'll get into my two flaws before getting into what I liked.
Firstly as someone who only left high school a few years ago as of this review, I can assure you that Grade 10 does not exist. GCSES go from grade U-9 with 9 being the highest. Jawando does an absolutely brilliant job of bringing the town of Manchester to life so as a result its super jarring to hear about grades that don't exist. I hope for future novels she does more research so mistakes like that don't happen.
Finally it's a minor nit pick but I thought I'd call it out. Although as a queer person I loved the representation I feel like they should have ratioed the relationships a bit better. It kinda feels like the heterosexual relationship in this book was an afterthought which is such a shame since there's not much black queer representation out there. No shade to the heterosexual relationship in the book though, they were a cute well built up couple.
Right, onto my main positives. First I loved how diverse the story was. Without spoiling anything Jawando showcases all the different struggles black people face in the UK in a meaningful and sensitive way. From fostercare to the justice system to the education system Jawando makes sure to show how rigged the system is against black people. She even shows how class doesn't help black people much at all. Being broad and diverse made this an educational read too I feel like if the novel only focused on the injustice of Shaqs stabbing it would have felt hallow so I'm glad Jawando wrote incredible storylines for all three of our main characters.
Secondly I loved the characters. Writing multi pov requires a lot of pratice and Jawando succeeds at this massively. Jackson, Marc and Chantelle are all fleshed out equally and given their own character arcs that are wrapped up beautifully. We see not only how Shaqs stabbing has affected them and changed them but also struggling and coping with the regular injustices that come their way as black teenagers. The trios dynamic is developed across the story too and it makes you come to route and care about their friendship.
Finally the ending. Without giving any spoilers the ending happens at the right pace and also happens in a realistic way. If I were to describe it I'd say its like a punch in the face and then a bitter sweet taste. Its sad and happy but also realistic. Through her genius writing Jawando makes the reader understand that with how strife racism is in the UK a happy ending wasn't realistic but its not completely hopeless. I also like how the ending was kinda foreshadowed at the very beginning of the book.
Overall a raw but incredibly real and elegantly written story with well developed characters, good foreshadowing and an incredible black solidarity friendship at the forefront of everything. Highly recommended, I'm so glad I picked this up even though it wasn't on my list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Hate crime
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Minor: Classism, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment
mollybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Police brutality and Toxic relationship
sweetsanchia's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racial slurs
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