Scan barcode
alm_07's review against another edition
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Murder
alenka's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is a story about Aniyah and Noah, two children who have suddenly lost their mother, who don't understand their father's absence, and who are thrust into foster care. Over the course of the story, it becomes clear that Aniyah and Noah have many learned behaviors from living in a household of domestic abuse, although their mother has shielded them from it as much as possible, and they understand their situation through the gauze of protection she created. Aniyah loves astronomy and considers herself a star hunter. She also believes that her mother left the earth and became a star, so when she finds out on the news that something incredible is happening - a star is moving and growing close enough to Earth be seen and observed - she knows that that star is her mother. When the Royal Observatory announces a contest to name the star, Aniyah knows she has to somehow get there and explain that the star can only have one name - her mother's name.
I want to thought vomit on this so I'm just gonna spoiler tag everything!OK, first off - while this is a book about domestic abuse, Rauf is very gentle with her readers. She does describe signs of abuse and violence, but typically as "games" that the kids' mother set up to deal with their father's controlling rage. Through Mrs. Iwuchukwu, she also shares ways adults can be supportive to children who have experienced trauma - but she also shows Mrs. I making mistakes, and other adults making mistakes. She calls out police inaction/disbelieving women as well.
I think, overall, this is a solid story, and I appreciate the way the narrative BELIEVES Aniyah. I can't tell you if her mother really did become a star or not - it's impossible to know, and it's beautiful that the adults take her seriously. However, I did struggle with it at various points. It feels kind of fantastical? How these kids make it all the way to Greenwich even after Aniyah fractures her ankle, how they successfully dodge all authorities, that they get squirrels to attack the cars... there was something there, tonally, that I kind of struggled with? Like there were narratives of competing styles at play, if that makes sense?
The reader is in Aniyah's perspective, and so it's reasonable that she can describe things that she doesn't fully understand to be abuse but that we can name as abuse, but having that perspective as a reader, following these kids on this wild journey into the city, I felt sort of intensely emotionally manipulated in a way that didn't quite work for me. I think that might be my distance as an adult reader, though - I do think this will work for kids.
I want to thought vomit on this so I'm just gonna spoiler tag everything!
I think, overall, this is a solid story, and I appreciate the way the narrative BELIEVES Aniyah. I can't tell you if her mother really did become a star or not - it's impossible to know, and it's beautiful that the adults take her seriously. However, I did struggle with it at various points. It feels kind of fantastical? How these kids make it all the way to Greenwich even after Aniyah fractures her ankle, how they successfully dodge all authorities, that they get squirrels to attack the cars... there was something there, tonally, that I kind of struggled with? Like there were narratives of competing styles at play, if that makes sense?
The reader is in Aniyah's perspective, and so it's reasonable that she can describe things that she doesn't fully understand to be abuse but that we can name as abuse, but having that perspective as a reader, following these kids on this wild journey into the city, I felt sort of intensely emotionally manipulated in a way that didn't quite work for me. I think that might be my distance as an adult reader, though - I do think this will work for kids.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Murder
More...