Reviews

The prose was gorgeous and I lov d the concept but I found the execution deeply lacking. The first two stories about Me. Jageroop were almost complete divorced from the later stories surrounding Mr. H. It seemed like a sudden change where we never really even went back to the characters introduced in the first two sections as we did in the last parts of the book. The final story also felt weirdly Islamophobic. Also also tbh I'm tried of stories where the message is "Men are awful and women suffer beneath them." this story deals with this in a nuanced way, especially in the the Declan and Ruth story (I thought that in particular was an excellent use of POV) but it's a bit exhausting when that's the major through line of the book. I'll likely check out future works by Mohammed, especially future shirt fiction because I think that form in particular is well-suited to her.

lilmissmalone's review

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4.0

It has been a long time since I’ve read a locally set book that wasn’t trying hard to be something that it wasn’t. The prose flows naturally, and I’m reminded that on a small island there are less than 6 degrees of separation between us all.

Hard lessons are learned: the mighty fall. Survival takes myriad forms. Girls confront womanhood and boys consider manhood based on the examples in front of them- all locked in on the nexus of a village that falls between town and country.

This isn’t a 21st century Miguel Street. Though Mohammed has the same eye for detail as Naipaul where character study is concerned, her intertwining of the lives of the tactics of the powerful, nouveau riche, fighting ascendant and the impoverished is enrapturing.

But still 4/5 stars because I couldn’t get past her using “ain’t” instead of “ent”

anaoliveira's review against another edition

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4.0

Pleasantview is a series of standalone short stories around the same universe, so all the characters show up in different stories.

I loved the way this book explored themes of race, class and corruption, although my heart was breaking for many of these characters. It had some unexpected twists and they really went there with the dark topics and difficult conversations, which was a surprise for me.

Strongly recommend and I wish I could read a sequel story for some of these characters!