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nicolaparty's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Animal cruelty
mmccombs's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.5
This was fine. I enjoyed the stories Splashdown and the titular story, If I Survive You, but most others went in one ear and out the other. I just didn’t feel like these stories were strong as a whole, though they definitely were well written and thematically gelled. It felt like the reading equivalent of watching a bunch of great actors with absolutely no chemistry between them perform together, strong as individuals but lacking as something in communication with itself. I don’t really understand why this was chosen for the Booker long list and don’t believe it should make the short, it was fine enough to read but it just didn’t do anything for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Racism
Moderate: Murder
luise96's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Murder
Moderate: Suicide
2treads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
'If only you chose home.' ‐ Sanya
Escoffery's stories are smart, realized, and stunning. They are at their core stories for so many Jamaican families, mired in colourism and classism(racism), fidelity, freedom of self, and self-actualization. Steeped in obvious experiences, each story traces the movement of this not-Black but maybe-Black family in a country where everyone is labelled.
Trelawny acts as the locus for this novel, born to Jamaican parents who yearn for the island they were able to flee when violence erupts, he struggles to cement himself within a cultural structure that seems determined to pigeonhole him.
Escoffery explores the many ways in which power dynamics exist and shift between members and within the family structure, how acceptance and identity can affect self-worth and self-actualization and determine the very ways we move through relationships.
'But answers in the mouths of the untrustworthy are worthless.' ‐ Trelawny
Escoffery's stories are smart, realized, and stunning. They are at their core stories for so many Jamaican families, mired in colourism and classism(racism), fidelity, freedom of self, and self-actualization. Steeped in obvious experiences, each story traces the movement of this not-Black but maybe-Black family in a country where everyone is labelled.
Trelawny acts as the locus for this novel, born to Jamaican parents who yearn for the island they were able to flee when violence erupts, he struggles to cement himself within a cultural structure that seems determined to pigeonhole him.
Escoffery explores the many ways in which power dynamics exist and shift between members and within the family structure, how acceptance and identity can affect self-worth and self-actualization and determine the very ways we move through relationships.
'But answers in the mouths of the untrustworthy are worthless.' ‐ Trelawny
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Classism, Abandonment, Trafficking, and Racism
Minor: Murder and Child death
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