Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Nightcrawling

There are certain books that transcend the transaction of purchasing a book to read into feeling like you’re getting away with something by having access to something so well-written.

For a novel that she began at 17 years old, Nightcrawling is brilliant. Leila Mottley has a wonderful writing style that shares an incredible story intentionally. She plays with using descriptive imagery and cold factual phrases so the reader can experience the intensity, detachment, and jaded nature that Kiara, and those around her, use to survive.

For a first time reader, I’d say to take note of the following: fingers, shit pool/water, colors throughout the book, the relationship to emotions the characters have, and the dynamics Kiara has with Trevor vs her own brother.

Some ways Mottley puts the reader into Kiara’s world:

“This morning is different. The way Dee’s laugh swirls upward into a high-pitched sort of scream before it wanders into her bellow.”

“Alejandra’s hair is silky and black, spilling from the bun on top of her head. Her skin is oily, slick with the sweat of the kitchen she has spent the past twenty minutes in.”

“Funeral day is a reckoning, when we mimic thieves and really just find excuses for our tears, then light up, eat until we have never felt fuller, and find somewhere to dance. Funeral day is the culmination of all our past selves, when we hold our own memorials for people we never buried right. The funeral always ends, though, and we all gotta get back to the hustle.”

Overall, fantastic!

Content Warnings

acorny's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

murve's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

kirstycurty's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.25

I felt for the main character and her situation. She felt so real and I feel that so many people can relate to the lived experiences of characters in the story.

Content Warnings

cirrenamarie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

Content Warnings

sophiekingo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

erendira's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-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? No

4.25

Content Warnings

anenome's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.5

This story was heartbreaking. Incredibly sad, it incites real anger, such an important story to tell.

It took me a while to warm to the narrator, I found her annoying for the first two chapters. Then I loved her, I've never missed a character so much when a book has ended, an original voice.

The ending was too abrupt and open for me. I didn't like Ale, she was a weak friend and always got a free pass for abandoning Kiara.

Between the dark parts of the book there's a lot of humour, it feels balanced.

If there was more to Kiara's story I would read it in a heartbeat.

Content Warnings

More...