Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe

21 reviews

vaanessssaa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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? No

4.75

I cried. This is a devastatingly realistic fictional take on growing up in The Projects and it hits even harder hearing it from the perspective of a girl right on the cusp of change.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Gun violence, Rape, Pedophilia, and Drug use

marcidarling's review

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Police brutality, and Sexual violence

girrllie's review

It was too sad and violent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Drug use, Gun violence, and Rape

samantha1960's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Drug abuse

karyan1's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Police brutality, Drug use, Violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy and Blood

mjwhitlock18's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

Coming-of-age story of an adolescent girl growing up in a housing project dealing with gang violence and loss of community due to gentrification, as well as navigating the changing landscape of her friendships. The voice and character of FeFe feels authentic, naive in a realistic way, and grows and changes as she loses innocence in a system that refuses to protect her and deals with turmoil, systemic injustice, and personal hurdles. The second part has a shift in tone, with her adult self recounting later events and reflecting on/ mourning the childhood she had. This narrative clearly shows the cycle of generational poverty, systemic racism, and police brutality, but still highlighting how she flourished with support and love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Police brutality, Drug use, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death

midnightmarauder's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Last Summer on State Street is told from the perspective of Felicia Stevens, often called Fe Fe by her friends and other people in the neighborhood. She lives in the South Side of Chicago in the Robert Taylor Homes projects. She has two best friends: church-girl Precious Brown, and Stacia Buchanan, who comes from a gang-affiliated background. 

Though the girls come from different walks of life, they lean on each other for support and friendship. Tonya, a new girl in their building, appears, and Felicia invites her over and she joins their friend group. But, Tonya comes with her own set of problems that don't show themselves until later. 

Tonya flinches a lot at loud sounds like gunshots or yelling, which makes me believe that she was a victim of

physical abuse

, even though it's never explicitly stated. However, it is revealed that she is a victim of

sexual abuse at the hands of drug dealers in their neighborhood.

Her mother is also a

drug addict, so it's possible that she could've been pimping Tonya out to the dealers in exchange for drugs

.

Fe Fe, who is naive but also very curious, grows up quickly during her time on State Street, witnessing both her building,

which is slated for demolition

, and her friends fall apart around her. Although so much changes around her, she uses the issues as vitriol to

get an education and move out of Chicago altogether

, making something of herself. 

I enjoyed reading this book so much, that it was always hard to put down. It reminded me a lot of my own childhood back when I lived in the projects; how I had a mother who sheltered me the best she could from the dangers of life in public housing, and how I had friends who, more often than not, had worse living situations than I had. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, and Adult/minor relationship

samlencioni's review

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Drug use

jendella's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

meg_charest's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book felt me, in many ways, like a contemporary Toni Morrison novel in its painfully poignant vignette-y telling of Black girlhood. The story takes place in 1990s Chicago and captures the way a group of children encounter violence and gain awareness of shared and individual trauma. It highlights the failings of systems and the ways in which systems cause intentional harm to Black folks through the eyes of girls who lose the right to their innocence and childhood because the world refuses to protect them and fights against the loved ones who try to shield them. Tough read at times, but beautifully written and exquisite characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Racism, and Drug use