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ellaandcoffee's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I am honestly in awe of this book! It is an absolute masterpiece and I advise you all to go and pick up a copy when it comes out at the end of November 2022. I listened to the audiobook (thank you Netgalley and RB Media for giving me a chance to review this book) but definitely will also be picking up a physical copy soon. The audiobook version was excellent and Tamika Katon-Donegal is a master-narrator, they absolutely do the book justice!
It's hard to talk about this book without giving away too much about the plot for me. So I will keep this review short. We Deserve Monuments is a coming-of-age story featuring a mixed-race queer main character who moves to a small town to help her severely ill grandmother. This book broke my heart and healed it in more ways than one. I am never at a loss for words but this book, it's just... I just need you all to go read it!!!
It's hard to talk about this book without giving away too much about the plot for me. So I will keep this review short. We Deserve Monuments is a coming-of-age story featuring a mixed-race queer main character who moves to a small town to help her severely ill grandmother. This book broke my heart and healed it in more ways than one. I am never at a loss for words but this book, it's just... I just need you all to go read it!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Terminal illness, and Cancer
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Outing, Abandonment, Homophobia, Murder, and Death
Minor: Alcoholism
oldandnewbooksmell's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
5.0
Trigger Warnings: Generational trauma, racism, mentions of alcoholism and verbal abuse, homophobia, character death
Avery Anderson’s life is uprooted when her family moves from Washington DC to Bardell, Georgia her senior year of high school to look after her maternal grandmother, Mama Letty, who’s in her final stages of cancer. Avery only remembers one visit with her grandmother, cut short by an argument, when she was very young. Bardell is a small town with only two high schools - one public, and one private, the latter being founded by one of the town’s many racist forefathers. Avery quickly gets adopted into the friendship of two girls: Simone Cole, Mama Letty’s next door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, a descendent of one of Bardell’s oldest families.
Avery’s relationship with her grandmother is far from easy. Mama Letty isn’t easy to get to know, especially when she only answers questions in grunts and gruffs. It also doesn’t help that the tension between her mother and grandmother is so thick you can cut it with a knife, but both of them are refusing to address it.
Avery sets out on trying to mend the broken and split relationship but there are events many are refusing to talk about. It isn’t until Mama Letty begins to open up to Avery about her past, that Avery is able to piece together her family history that was shaped by the town’s racist history. As more events come out of the shadows, Avery must decide if finding out the truth is worth damaging the relationships she’s built in Bardell, or if some things are better left buried.
I absolutely loved and adored this book very much. Jas Hammonds masterfully tells this layered story of a young woman finding out about her family’s past within a novel that’s about generational trauma and racism. The amount of trauma the three generations of women must peel back is constantly met with tension. The story is hard to read at times, especially when you’re reading about Mama Letty’s past and the town’s racism, but this book wrapped its arms around me and refused to let go until the Harding family’s story is told.
Alongside Avery finding out about her family’s past, the relationship between Simone and Avery grows deeper and the way the two of them find their footing to their sexuality was well written. I wish I had grown up with a place like The Renaissance where you were accepted no matter what.
Overall, this novel is going to be one I’m going to talk about for months to come. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful, and captivating. Any readers who love reading about family and their dynamics, relationships, and hope will really enjoy this book.
*Thank you Roaring Brook Press and NetGalley for an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Death
Minor: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse
marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
When her family learns that her grandmother is dying, Avery is uprooted from her life in D.C. and transplanted to her mom’s tiny hometown in Georgia. She leaves behind her college-obsessed friends (and ex) just before starting her senior year in a town where she knows no one, including her own grandmother. Years of lost time span between three generations of Black women, and Avery is determined to unearth the divisive secrets that color her family and finally get to know her impenetrable grandmother, all while getting to know herself. A debut novel about who and what is worth remembering with a special focus on Black queer love in the South, We Deserve Monuments is unforgettable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Classism, Cancer, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Police brutality, and Sexual content
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