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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this. Growing up in Oklahoma and taking classes called Oklahoma History, you would think I’d have learned about the Tulsa Massacre. But I didn’t know anything about it until I was in my 30s, and I am consistently horrified at the revisionist history taught in schools. This fictionalized version of true events was heart-wrenching, but the love and light and redemption that came from it was so lovely. Isaiah and Angel were likable, and Muggy was not, but his arc was really something.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing was LOVELY. Just really gorgeous prose that brings the idyllic setting & flawed characters to life. The pacing was extremely slow up until the last quarter, but that was clearly an intentional choice — you’re meant to meander through this book, to really soak in the characters & their community, in order to fully understand the devastation of losing everything bc of horrific violence. I also loved the thought-provoking philosophical debates between the MCs, even if they did feel a bit staged. A quiet, powerful read. ★★★★☆
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:
Yes
I loved the balance between a sweet, innocent teenage romance and the historical tragedy in Greenwood.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
informative
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:
Yes
I have always heard about Black Wallstreet and I knew the unfortunate ending, but I liked seeing this fictional take on it. We get to see how life may have been for those living in this sort of Black oasis. The people in the community felt real to me. The Booker T. Washington vs. W.E B. Du Bois conversations where their two ideologies are contrasted were good as well. For those more interested in the historical aspects, they may be disappointed by how much the story focuses on Isaiah’s development, Angel’s need to help, and innocent romance (slightly insta-lovey but fitting). The actual events don’t take place until the last hundred pages, choosing instead to focus on our main characters’ lives instead.
I enjoyed (as much as you can with the subject matter) reading Angel of Greenwood, and I wish there was more attention given to it. This is a split pov with Angel and Isaiah. Angel is the girl with a heart of gold who is always caring for others and not herself, while Isaiah is a secretly decent guy led around by his nasty friend Muggy jr.
I did not know how early on would the book touch on the vile massacre, so there was an impending sense of dread for me. However, the lightheartedness of Isaiah getting his junk together and his beautiful, lovesick poems he wrote about Angel were a welcome distraction.
While I generally don’t read much historical fiction featuring African-Americans/Black Americans (I’m always left with a mixture of anger and sadness afterwards; it can be emotionally-draining at times), I don’t regret reading this. We, descendants from North American chattel enslavement, have truly had an enduring time in this country. Still, Angel of Greenwood shows that black life isn’t/wasn’t this all-consuming suffering. People have lives, aspirations, hopes and dreams and whatnot too.
Anyway, this is worth reading (and talking about!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime
Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent
Minor: Blood
emotional
sad
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:
Yes
Two-thirds of this book is amazing. There is a five star book in here. There really is... And that is why I was annoyed and frustrated at the end of this book. Why did the author do this? Why did the author spend two hundred pages building a fantastic teen romance in an idyllic black community (the author references it as “My Wakanda”) only to segue into something else entirely? As a YA romance, it would have been a better story. As it happened, I spent the last one hundred pages not really understanding why things were happening. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t fault the writer if this event was fictional (I love ambiguity) or if it was meant purely as a backdrop to advance the love story. But it isn’t. We get many facts AFTER the story is over that end up answering the questions I had while reading the climax. With an omniscient narrator this is unacceptable. Insert these little nuggets into the narrative for a more cohesive understanding of the actions taking place. What if I decided not to keep reading? I never would have learned about this tragic event. And the author would have failed. If my opinion matters to anyone, read this book for the first 200 pages, make up the rest of the love story in your head, close the book, and research the Greenwood District Massacre in Tulsa, OK on June 1, 1921. I wish I did.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism
challenging
emotional
informative
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