Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Rainbow Milk

Loved this book and thought parts of it were viscerally powerful; Mendez writes so wonderfully and with such insight about love, sex, desire, bodies and trauma. The feeling of longing springs off the page as you progress through the novel. However, the structure for me felt a little disappointing. I wish both Norman and Jesse's stories were given equal weight, as Norman's felt so promising but was ultimately short and underdeveloped - almost like it could have been incorporated into Jesse's narrative without a separate section.

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nordstina's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Rainbow Milk is a touching debut novel by Paul Mendez about a young man named Jesse McCartney. He grows up in the Black Country in England, and is coming to terms with his identity as a black gay man. His life is in the Jehovah's Witness faith and he is disfellowshipped. He leaves everything he knows behind and goes to London to seek a new and more accepting community. Jesse is an engaging main character- we follow him through jobs in the food industry and as a sex worker. The descriptions are raw and intense, and music and art are common themes throughout. I want to go back and listen to the music that is referenced as it is so integral to how Jesse is feeling. The one thing in the book that took me out a bit was it had a long-dish beginning introducing us to a completely separate character in the 1950's who has recently moved from Jamaica to England. And his tale appears completely disconnected until the latter half of the book, and even then, I am not sure how much I needed that amount of context at the beginning. I really look forward to what Mendez writes next because this is an incredibly strong debut.

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hilarylouise's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

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novellenovels's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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

3.5

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chig_flicks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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nikolas_fox's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

This book was something else. I received this in a subscription box and I was unsure if it was a book I would enjoy, and I was so wrong. This book was so honest and raw and hit straight into me at so many times. It looks generationally from East Indian immigrants to England, in the Black Country, all the way through 2016. We hit hard on the AIDS epidemic and all the loss that's involved with that. This book was just so amazing in so many ways, and there are lines that hit me hard from beginning to end. I am so glad I gave this book the chance it deserved and I expect to see great things from Paul Mendez in the future.

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the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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