Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Nightcrawling

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

27 reviews

zara89's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

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syds_shelves's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really fucking liked nightcrawling. it was so sad throughout that I took a 3 week break from reading it. I have two younger brothers so anything with a young boy that needs protecting is immediately gonna crack my heart open. The last 3 pages also beat me down in a way I wasn’t expecting BECAUSE the end wasn’t that bad? I’m not sure if i’ve been hearing too many folks say the ending really hurt them or what but… I feel like this reality is very true and near for a lot of black folks so I was not hurt or surprised more than I am by being black every day in a country that doesn’t give a shit about me. Maybe it’s all the open ends and “what happens to ___” that has left folks reeling but, again, cannot say.

That aside, the book??? It felt like my emotions were getting jumped every single page. There was nearly no relief, but I couldn’t stop reading. I think this book is very similar stylistically to The Hate U Give (A lot of colorful background characters that aren’t fully fleshed out, a lot of strong values and beliefs presented from the author through the main character, and a deep love for where the characters come from. You can tell Leila has a deep love for Oakland) until it’s not. Some of this prose is for sure over written and flowery but fuck did it knock me out of my shoes. Because who would think to pair the blows of poverty, trafficking, and how generally deplorable police are with language like this.

There are other parts where I read and was like “yeah, this feels like a debut by a young author” in the kindest way. There is always room for growth, and I think this is also the unfortunate result of reading a heavily talked about Oprah/Booksta book. She’s made a fan of me and i’ll ABSOLUTELY be back for her next ones.

I get why this book was what it was, but personally I do wish it had more black joy. Take it or leave it, but there is so much misery and awfulness going on that I think you have black books for white folks and black books for black folks. The difference between The Help or a Tyler Perry production and a James Baldwin or Toni Morrison. Sad, but loving black folks vs sad and putting that on display for folks who don’t know black people irl, people who don’t watch the news, people who aren’t tapped in to politics, etc. This didn’t feel like the former, but it wasn’t quite at the ladder for me. A weird limbo. I think when writing truth to power for all these stories for and about black folks, I personally as a reader value something to pull your head above water.

The characters, I wanted to love but so many of them felt cut short just as i was beginning to know them. The really bad ones felt super hallow and like they were there to serve only a purpose and get you to the next few pages. This is where it can get hard to critique something based on a true story. Something that happens every day more gruesome than even described here. idk I guess all i’m saying is being black every day prepared me for this ending but not the things leading up to it. The book itself was very good, and I have high hopes for what will come next.

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