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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Okay I have a lot of feelings about this book. On one hand it’s an interesting study to the age old question of can love bridge extreme character differences and beliefs between 2 people. And the book doesn’t directly answer it - it depends on if you think their relationship works or not. It’s certainly a subjective way of storytelling. My criticism is, I don’t like reading a story where a girls blackness and struggles created by blackness are denied by her partner. I hate to say it but in part I feel jess is cowardly for choosing the comfort of love and affection over her values. Maybe it’s because I really value similar worldviews and political opinions in a relationship and because I’ve been in this exact situation and broke up with someone for having a different political worldview but I think she should be stronger in sticking to her values. THAT SAID, as a black girl who often felt denied of affection/love and like a second choice, I completely get how difficult it is to walk away from a loving relationship. Like it’s clear he really loves her and is devoted to her but the whole section where he is more committed to keeping this image at work of being destined for the white picket fence life with a white girl just for the sake of making money was literally horrifying to read. If someone hid the fact they were dating me to basically advance themselves at work especially given the fact that their boss’s hatred of me was based on race, I would feel so disrespected and violated. I don’t like Jess that much as her own character but I really truly feel for her and i genuinely think she deserves better!! To be loved it to be understood and I firmly believe that and I think that because he refuses to attempt to understand how race and racism has shaped her and that he doesn’t react and respond to her fear of political decline in the 2016 election is soooo….like he loves her but he doesn’t fully love her as a black person in the modern American political climate!! And I felt like at times she was just being gaslit and he implied she was overreacting or being emotional or paranoid and it pissed me AWFFFF cause I was like you’re under reacting!! Who are you to tell a black American how worried she should be about trump. Anyway. Really mixed feelings about the characters but definitely a thought provoking book..can’t say i would necessarily recommend because the characters are so irritatingly complex but it’s certainly a gripping plotline and story.
She described set as a complicated game of logic.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this. Super fast read… until the very last page—very last sentence really—and I was left thinking, that’s it?! It just ended, but there was no real resolution. Deeply unsatisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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
Funny, beautiful, sad, disturbing, and far more nuanced than 99% of the reader reviews.
This book is about so many things - political ideology, racism, capitalism, income inequality, hegemonic masculine workplace cultures, identity, hypocrisy, love - but it’s so lively and enjoyable a reading experience. I loved every moment I spent with it.
This book is NOT a genre romance. If you approach it expecting romance conventions (e.g., a Happily Ever After), it will piss you off. A lot of people are reacting to the premise with outrage, like, "NO WAY should racism be considered a minor foible she needs to look past." Yes. That is true. That is, in fact, Cecilia Rabess's point. This book is *deliberately disturbing.* Read it for what it is, not for what it would be if Rabess was writing a category romance.