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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Don't miss out on this one. Hard to believe that this is a debut. Asale Angel- Ajani has phenomenal writing skills, the characters fly off the pages. The mother - daughter relationship between Yevgenia and Lara, which is at the core of the novel, is intensely moving. A stunning read!
A gritty portrayal of Lara, the resilient 16-year-old daughter of a Cuban Black father who isn't part of her life and her mother, Yevgenia, a spirited Russian immigrant who loves controlling those around her, Russian literature, and vodka. They move to the Oasis trailer park in inland Southern California. An exploration of poverty, mental illness, unhealthy mother-daughter relationships, and generational trauma. Pointed and poignant writing. The plot was a bit slow to start but I enjoyed the character development and writing enough that I kept reading. Four stars.
Some really good writing here exploring a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship with themes of race, poverty, and identity. It was pretty heavy and I just wasn’t satisfied at the end.
Yevgenia, or “Evie,” will never be the subject of a paean to motherhood. Evie consumes Russian literature and alcohol, is a skillful liar, and wears dominatrix pumps and savagely short, tight and bedazzled clothing that say things like “porn star” and “trashy.” The novel opens as Evie and pulls into the dubiously named “Oasis Mobile Estates.” She is scrutinized by the manager to whom she introduces her Black daughter, Lara, and gamely flirts to obtain a discounted rate on a dilapidated trailer. Evie had “accidently” defected from the Soviet Union in the 1980s, had a child with a schizophrenic Cuban exile, and left that child with acquaintances from various jobs and with people who owed her a favor. She was gone for nearly two years, and then she and Lara traveled from California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Texas and Mexico as it didn’t take much for Evie to “change directions – a passing conversation about a pretty town, a brochure for another state, a traffic violation, a man, a notice of past-due rent, boredom.” But even when Evie returns to collect Lara, she is a pathetic mother. One of Evie’s few admonitions to a 7 year old Lara who races home after being given a few bucks by a neighbor to perform fellatio is “ask for twenty” next time. As they settle in at the Oasis, Lara is sixteen years old and is preparing to cut the “weak strings of obligation” that tethered her to Evie. Lara tends to Brody, the neglected child who resides in an adjacent trailer, contemplates losing her virginity to Brody’s attractive but drug addicted dad, Steve, becomes friendly with a pregnant Filipina teen, Crystal, and Julie and Charles, the former a shoplifter who lives in a wealthy gated community, and the latter, a poor, Black, smart and gay fledgling poet. Lara navigates a new community and a new school, making an appointment to update her vaccine records which her mother had forged with “physicians” who were named after her former lovers. An engrossing and heartbreaking tale of a unique mother-daughter relationship.
This is one of those books that leaves you a little unsure on how you're feeling — part of me celebrates the representation that's included in "A Country You Can Leave," as it unfolds the story of a very marginalized experience of racism, neglect, and homelessness. The other part of me honestly just could not wait for this book to be over.
Teenage Lara and her mother Yevgenia are looking to start a new chapter in the Oasis Mobile Estates trailer home park, following a turbulent history of homelessness and false starts. As a Black, biracial daughter to Russian Yevgneia (Evie), Lara experiences her share of micro-aggressions, both in her history and as she settles into her new life and school. Much of the novel is about Lara and Yevgneia's complicated relationship, where self-centered and eccentric Yevgneia, in her quest for survival, seems more interested in sex and her Russian literature than in making sure that Lara thrives.
The book itself feels somewhat meandering, with no strong plot to anchor it, and feels more like a teenager's snapshot observations on life. There's a good deal of cringe in witnessing the life lessons that Yevgenia passes along to Lara. Lara's life feels grim, and that gives this book a trudging heaviness I often felt reluctant to return to, no matter how well written it is.
Teenage Lara and her mother Yevgenia are looking to start a new chapter in the Oasis Mobile Estates trailer home park, following a turbulent history of homelessness and false starts. As a Black, biracial daughter to Russian Yevgneia (Evie), Lara experiences her share of micro-aggressions, both in her history and as she settles into her new life and school. Much of the novel is about Lara and Yevgneia's complicated relationship, where self-centered and eccentric Yevgneia, in her quest for survival, seems more interested in sex and her Russian literature than in making sure that Lara thrives.
The book itself feels somewhat meandering, with no strong plot to anchor it, and feels more like a teenager's snapshot observations on life. There's a good deal of cringe in witnessing the life lessons that Yevgenia passes along to Lara. Lara's life feels grim, and that gives this book a trudging heaviness I often felt reluctant to return to, no matter how well written it is.
This book was wildly unique and really beautifully written - it only has 760 reviews on Goodreads, and that’s a travesty!
It follows a mixed race teenage girl and her complicated relationship with her Russian mother. Like, complicated is putting it lightly - her mom is unstable, intelligent, vicious, restless, entirely unhinged.
The book explores themes of mother/daughter relationships, feeling as if you don’t belong, issues of poverty, immigrant life, and so much more. It’s certainly not a story that wraps things up neatly, but it is one I’ve thought about a lot since finishing.
3.5
Well written but not overly enjoyable to read. I found myself just wanting to be done it.
Well written but not overly enjoyable to read. I found myself just wanting to be done it.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Compelling story about an unreliable mother who cannot fulfill her responsibilities and her daughter who needs to become independent to survive. The mother is intelligent and hardworking, but full of bad choices as she inconsiderately and selfishly looks out for herself always. When her daughter needs her, she's not there. But there is still love and need, a desire to spare and to harm.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-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