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stellahadz's review
- 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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Racism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Minor: Eating disorder
karemark's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Moderate: Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Racism, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
blakeandbooks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Drug use, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming
Moderate: Death, Vomit, and Sexual content
bookrecsondeck's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Mental illness, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Self harm, Eating disorder, and Death
seullywillikers's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Updated review: EVERYONE should read this book, but most especially, if you have anything to do with higher education AT ALL, whether as student, teacher, administrator, or volunteer, you must read this book. Obviously, as a white woman, I did not identify with all of Sahara's identities; I did identify with some of her story, though. This has got to have the most real portrayal of depression and suicidal ideation in a fiction that I have ever read. Throughout, Sahara's humor, sadness, and rage burn brightly, so that you are in the midst of it, and feeling it too. The POV of a Black woman in a PWI is poignant and important-you can logically 'know' a thing, but to see it through this window is another thing entirely. Certainly, I'll never understand on a fundamental level, but having the books and other media that represent these true stories (fiction as truth-teller) is so important for everyone in today's America.
The framework of a satirical Master's thesis is brilliantly conceived and executed in this book, and is well used to highlight the insufficient, ineffective, and hypocritical policies and facades of towering institutions that don't actually do the work to raise up anyone except their donors and benefactors. This book touched not only on systemic racism, but also everyday microaggressions, inequitable health-care and the dismissal of Black people's pain, trying to figure out your life as an LGBTQIA+ person, depression and self-harm, dysfunctional families (even if there is love there), and just trying to figure out yourself in college. That is SO much to cover, but this book doesn't feel bogged down, sloggy, or hindered in achieving to carry all of that.
Also, Sahara has awesome taste in music. 5 stars.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Classism, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Blood
tigger89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
That said, it was very well done. Sahara's perspective was in turns frustrating, heartbreaking, infuriating, and all too real. There's very little plot that goes down in this story. Instead, it's almost entirely about the characters, whether they're sympathetic, antagonistic, or somewhere in between. This worked incredibly well to paint a complete, empathetic picture of the suffering students of color undergo while surviving — or not — in racist institutions, as well as to underscore the vital importance of community and showing up to support one another.
The gimmick of the novel, that it was an academic thesis, was a mixed bag for me. While it's addressed to the thesis committee and has frequent footnotes, it doesn't read like academic writing at all. Of course that subversion is the point, but it's still disconcerting as a reader to have been sold on one thing only to discover it's something else entirely. I think if I'd known what I was in for up front I would have appreciated it much more, rather than being disappointed about what I'd thought I was getting. I also want to note that, according to her author bio, Chukwu is a visual artist, and there's many instances of art throughout the novel. Consequently, this may be a title that's best enjoyed in a physical or e-book edition, rather than on audio.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Medical content
thepermageek's review
- 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
To be honest, I think this book would have been too much for me to handle when I was at the absolute depths of my own despair. But now that I'm in a (relatively) mentally healthy/stable period in my life this book was an absolute delight!
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Racism, Self harm, Alcoholism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
lettuce_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Body shaming, Alcohol, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Racism, and Drug use
Moderate: Racial slurs and Medical trauma