Reviews with content warning for Bullying - What's Mine and Yours

Really interesting non-linear format of moving forward and backward in time sometimes by decades other times by a month and each time changing whose perspective the story is being told from while overlapping in someway with the other storytellers and stories. It would have been helpful to start a timeline and list of characters at the beginning.

Overall a pretty depressing book as people are constantly using one another, tolerating neglect, and there’s just so much graphic emphasis on sex!

Interesting perspective of poverty, race, and generational trauma.

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mfrabbiele's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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ladygetslit's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This book isn’t really about the integration of a school in the early 2000s. It’s more about the messy nature of human beings, who are so often selfish, prejudiced, anxious, and ignorant.

I wanted to rate this higher, because the writing was good, and I appreciate what Naima Coster accomplished with this book. Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel connected to the characters. Everyone in this book is some kind of asshole, and even though I can understand why, it just kept me from really feeling for them. I think if the story had focused only on Noelle and Gee, I would’ve been able to settle in more. As it is, the story follows so many different people and I didn’t have the time to feel connected to their story enough to be invested in the outcomes.

I would still recommend this book, because I think it does a good job of exploring the experience of being biracial, of being on the outside of something looking in. It just didn’t pack the emotional punch I wanted it to.

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ekmook'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

3.5

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elissareadsbooks's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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bookishvanessa's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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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katsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

“She hadn’t needed lectures or coddling; most girls didn’t. The needed choices.”

“She was an ignorant woman, dangerous. Another woman’s child was laid up in the hospital, and all that she could see was the imagined threat to her own.”

“It was too easy for people to see their interests and disinterests as pure, functions of their desires and personalities.”

“Maybe this was another way that she was white: the ease with which she could ignore calamity, focus mainly on what she wanted.”

“She wanted Gee to know this music was for him, that irreverence and rage weren’t just for white boys."

“Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.”

I must be getting old because this is one of those books that I would never been able to enjoy five years ago. It is so realistic. The characters feel raw and real. They're lovable, yet utterly fallible. I felt like I was reading a memoir; that's how realistic it was. Following that vein, it also meant that there wasn't necessarily a big reveal or climax per se. I was honestly stunned when I turned the final page because I felt like it could just keep going and going. I think the reason this book was really compelling to me is because it explores so many of the subtle nuances of racism, even when it's internalized. It wasn't portrayed as this character fault that is eventually triumphed over. I could see pieces of the Ventura girls, and especially Lacey May in so many of my own relatives. This is the type of book that could be read in a classroom. There are so many layers.

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