Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Hurricane Summer

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield

44 reviews

lovereadingxo's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.0

In this own voices, coming-of-age novel, we meet Tilla - an 18-year-old who has spent most of her life yearning for the love of a father who keeps leaving their family for his homeland, Jamaica. And as the story begins, that's where Tilla and her little sister Mia are headed for the summer.

Her time there will prove to be life-changing, and the novel gets real dark, real quick. It touches on many heavy topics – colourism, slut shaming, s*xual assault, death – but it isn’t done with enough finesse to make the reader feel like there’s a balance to the time Tilla spends in Jamaica.

So many things go wrong, and there’s the constant looming threat of the hurricane, so it’s hard to really see the beauty in the novel, the country.

“This place… this land… it’s been paradise. But it’s also been poison.”

I love how much Patois is used, and while the author provides a ‘word bank’, I didn’t need it – the context usually made it clear. Maybe that’s why it frustrated me so much that Tilla – whose father supposedly spoke Patois all the time – constantly kept asking “what does that mean?”

But that’s only one of many things that made her character hard to connect with.

Granted, Tilla has lived a mostly sheltered life, but you're telling me that nothing has toughened her up, even a little bit? She can’t bring herself to say ‘no’, even when she really should.

The only times Tilla truly stands up for herself is to her father and aunt, and those circumstances felt... over the top. Like the author was trying to make up for what a pushover she’d been.

Tilla also seems much younger than 18. If she was 15, I would have found ‘Hurricane Summer’ more believable and enjoyable.

Other issues: The big plot twist towards the end felt completely gratuitous, no one suffers consequences for their actions and the author tends to overwrite, especially towards the end.

What I liked: The setting and its vibrancy, Tilla and Andre’s friendship, and how authentic it all felt.

There were touching moments and I found the novel interesting, but I really wanted to love it and I just didn’t.

Content Warnings

jooniethemoonie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

It's quite long but hard hitting. Brings you on the journey of a girl learning to stand for herself, in a country that runs through her bones but does not welcome her.

Content Warnings