Reviews with content warning for Ableism - In Every Mirror She's Black

Whew…what a gut-wrenching picture of what it can mean to be a Black woman today. The characters are imperfect and human and just trying to do the best they can with what they know and what they have. I definitely understand it wouldn’t be for everyone and I can’t speak to the accuracy or quality of representation. And yet, I won’t forget this one anytime soon.

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nicolaparty's review

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challenging emotional informative sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this, but I was unsettled by the fact that one of the main characters

(the villain of the piece, whose special interest was black women!)

was coded as autistic, in a way that appeared to draw on stereotypes rather than actual engagement with or deep understanding of autism. It felt like poor representation that was also an unnecessary addition to the story. Otherwise, great character development, and an extemely compelling story, with the lives of three very different people described beautifully. Heartbreaking and engaging and beautiful.

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lili_geek's review

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emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book follows three black women from different backgrounds who are all impacted by the same man. Three out of four characters were incredibly unlikeable.

The meat of the book had some good story development, where one woman was finding her niche while trying the cope with the systemic racism surrounding her, one woman drowning in isolation due to outright racism she has to experience, and one woman who was constantly trying to make connections in the mist of all of her trauma. But the ending was simultaneously sad and frustrating, and I can’t say that I found it was a good ending. Only one character did my heart go out to.

I also did not like the fact that the main ‘villain’ was coded as ASD. The representation was poor and not accurate. To me it read like someone went to webmd- found the main symptoms of ASD then put all of it in one character.

Overall, the book was good enough for me to maintain interest to want to finish the book, but I would not recommend it to anyone. I felt like it had a lot of promise, but I was disappointed in the character decisions (not the last characters decision, that broke my heart) in the beginning and ending of the book.

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peachani's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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lauravreads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book follows 3 different Black women and their immigration to Sweden. Kemi is a Marketing executive from DC and moved to Sweden for a job opportunity. Brittany is a flight attendant from Atlanta and finds herself in Sweden after she begins a relationship with a frequent traveler from Sweden. Muna is a refugee from Somalia living in an asylum for refugees.

Each of these women has wildly different experiences due to their personal circumstances. As expected Muna has the hardest time finding employment, and receiving legal documents. However, they all share a similar experience of being a Black woman. They deal with racism, fetishization, and tokenization. These characters did not interact much rather they each had their individual storyline.

Out of the three women I found Kemi the most relatable character. As she moved to Sweden for work, her story focuses a lot on workplace racism, tokenism, work relationsips, and exploitation. I absolutely LOVED how professional she is! There were so many instances where I was just so proud of the way she handled certain situations.

I found Muna to be the most loveable character however her story was very emotional and serious. Her story highlighted inequities, classism, and international politics. Brittany on the other hand was a very frustrating character. Her storyline was very dramatic but lighthearted at the same time. Her story almost felt like a telenovela or sitcom. However, it did highlight fetishization and white privilege.

**Spoiler Ahead**

Jonny is another main character in this novel. As soon as he was introduced I noticed that he had a lot of the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the last 10% of the book, it is disclosed that he was indeed on the spectrum but undiagnosed and protected by his immense wealth. I feel that this highlighted the stigma regarding ASD as well as the ablism in society. I am glad that he was held accountable for his actions rather than excused for his ASD. However, I did feel that it fed a bit into the negative stereotype of people with ASD.

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bandysbooks's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This is the story of three Black women, each from a different background, living in Sweden and tied together by one unique man. I loved that we get a POV for each of the three women so that we get a chance to really know them. We learn their hopes, fears, and struggles. I felt like I had a good idea of who each of them was by the end of the book.

I really liked the author’s dedication to portraying characters with diverse backgrounds. The main three characters are each Black women, but their backgrounds are varied. Kemi is Nigerian-American, Muna is a refugee to Sweden from Somalia, and Brittney-Rae is African American. The main male character, Johnny, is neuro divergent and portrayed thoughtfully. We also see supporting characters who are refugees from Eritrea and Syria and two of Kemi’s friends are a gay couple. All of the diversity makes the story so much richer and realistic.

My only real critique of this story is that the ending was a bit open ended. I didn’t necessarily want it to be neatly wrapped up, but I wish there was just a bit more.

All in all, I would definitely recommend it for contemporary fiction readers, particularly readers with an interest in prejudice, xenophobia, fetishism, ableism, and racism.

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f3v3rdr3am's review

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really awful autitsic representation.

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