Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Encontro

A Black British woman writes what is basically her manifesto and suicide letter explaining her choice to not seek treatment for her metastatic cancer and details her history of continuous dehumanization and racism with a list of incidents of workplace sexual harassment, microaggressions, and full on racist interactions in every level of her life but most significantly in her professional sphere. She's promoted in her banking career but the suits make it seem she's just a diversity hire/promotion to look good. One day in her job after her promotion, a man married to one of her boyfriend's sisters goes on rant on how Black and Hispanic people have it easier but he's not actually against diversity, he just wants fairness. Then she's invited to her boyfriend's his parents weekend marriage anniversary dinner at his estate home, with further classist and more racist mocking by them, and throughout all that, we learn through the MC how Britain still doesn't recognize their history of abusive imperialism and colonization. We see how abortive losers use immigration as scapegoat to justify their mediocrity and seek validation for their loser selves being racist. The MC shares her grievances of being dehumanized every moment of her life and how she's literally done, so much so, that beating cancer and surviving would condemn her to keep this hellish state and how not only would she be a cancer survivor, but a Black cancer survivor, so all that would add to her being further objectified and cheaply used as "inspiration". It's a very bleak book bc you can feel the mc's exhaustion soak through you as you read and you get so angry at the fact that the white instigators of all this are oblivious throughout all of their lives. Sometimes though, it feels like the MC has a chip on her shoulder and maybe she's overanalyzing her boyfriend's parents and sister mundane behavior bc living in a white world is startling enough but no they open their mouths and they really are like that. The writing here is insightful, with gut-punch quotes. You'll have a hard time trying to not highlight the whole thing.

Content Warnings

jamesdavid's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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sorcha's review against another edition

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reflective sad tense medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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hanbuckley19's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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jenmcreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of my favorite reads of the year. For how short this one is, it manages to pack in a lot of worthwhile meditations on race and gender and class and the fallout of colonialism. The writing style is unique but accessible. I would highly encourage just about anyone to read this.

Content Warnings

rashi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I find the style of writing- those fragmented thoughts and philosophising and musings to be very similar to the way I love to think and write. Assembly was not what I expected, more poetry than standard narrative, but I think it really allowed so many thoughts and concepts to be incorporated in such a short time, by the end of the less than 100 pages I really knew parts of this character, and felt that I connected to the decisions and frustrations she faced, even if they do not explicitly reflect my own. Flew through the novel, great pacing and overall really enjoyable read

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lemonsandligaments's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The topic of this book is incredibly pertinent in today’s world.

However, for a 100 page book, it’s quite a drag to get through. The pacing is very slow.

The writing style makes it seem like there are ten layers of bricks between you and the main character, and another ten between the main character and the rest of the cast.

This was quite fresh for the first few chapters, showing the main character’s internal monologue in a constant flow.

Then you have a doctors visit and a bunch of other events described that way, and it gets excruciating. This narrative method normally uses all 5 senses, but the main character only seems to be a fan of sight.

The part where

she takes a walk during the party preparations

is very important as she

deliberated her situation with some finality

, which I would expect to be isolated and direct with no padding for a stronger punch.

Unfortunately, I find that it is clouded by quite a bit of fluff and random references (which would work in less pivotal moments), and I recognise that this might be a matter of personal taste.

Giving the main character such a voice just makes everyone seem like paper cutouts, or a yell from the other end of a long tunnel. This is fine since the book is about the main character. In this case though, even the main character seems foreign.

I know her occupation and what she wants and experiences but there is not much more than that, perhaps this was on purpose. Not having other elements strongly tied to the book’s theme (e.g., maybe a bit about how she was as a child) makes her sound like she’s the manifestation of a checklist.

Elements not necessarily about her overt racist experiences or job can help humanise her, and make the book so much more moving.

The main point if this book is hammered in with the various anecdotes, especially with how the main character’s relationship is as transactional as it gets. I really liked her breakdown of that.

The rest of the anecdotes were just iterations of subtle verbal racism that did not delve into the deeper systemic aspects that some might not know about, which would’ve made for a good educational opportunity.

This book is probably for an audience that knows what they want out of it, as reading it without checking the blurb first has brought confusion.

Lastly, I feel that this book can be condensed into a collection of poems that contain the best descriptors and really nail the pacing of those tense moments.

If this book were about most other topics, this rating would be lower.

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