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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I feel like this book had really good ideas, but for me they didn’t really work. I struggled with Brittany’s storyline the most. I feel like her relationship with Jonny really didn’t make much sense especially considering how fast paced it was. I understand that the draw is her privilege, but why that specifically was so appealing to her fell really flat for me. I also find it bizarre that there wasn’t more interaction between the main characters considering how they were all connected by Jonny. I also feel like Muna’s storyline felt much too peripheral to feel like it should’ve been told with the others, especially since she was the most distant character from Jonny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Three Black women in Sweden - I thought I could guess at how this story would go, and at so many points I was so wrong. For me, this straddled the line between a great, easy-to read story, and the kind of novel that makes you work hard. This is a good thing - it's got challenging moments, and there's a lot of characters, not all of whom I could keep track of. No characters are unblemished, and none are completely irredeemable. I haven't read many books with lots of Swedish in them, and so the fact that this does, while also being very much about the experience of Black and Brown women in the world was surprising in a good way.
The writing is strong, the scenes about desire and sex were not the best, though - they felt a little forced or maybe unearned to me.
The writing is strong, the scenes about desire and sex were not the best, though - they felt a little forced or maybe unearned to me.
3.5 stars
This novel follows the lives of three very different women as they try to create better lives for themselves and create meaningful relationships. Kemi is a seccessful marketing executive who takes a chance on a job in Sweden - where as a Nigerian-American she is in the minority. Former model Brittany-Rae allows herself to be wrapped into the world of Jonny, a filthy rich Swede and Muna, a refugee in Sweden, just wants stability and opportunity. Three women whose lives connect both indirectly and directly but who are connected, as well. by the fact that they are Black in a very white-dominated society.
This isn't an easy book to read - both because of the choices these women make but also because of what happens TO them, the discrimination, the trauma, the betrayal. It seems like no one can ever really get a break or find happiness and I acknowledge that obviously not every book needs to be about Black Joy (and the author even comments on this in the afterward) but it still makes it hard when you've invested in characters to see so much pain. Again, this pain was sometimes self-inflicted - but we all make mistakes and I appreciated that Åkerström was trying to give these women the grace to be whole people - and that our skin color doesn't mean we have to always make good OR bad choices. We just, as humans, get to BE.
I appreciated the Swedish setting - that was unfamiliar for me and rather interesting. The interplay with one central character, Johnny, who intersects with all of these women's lives in different ways was intriguing but also a bit disconcerting. He is clearly on the spectrum but his behavior didn't always feel believable to me. The writing was good enough, it didn't blow me away with its beauty and sometimes I didn't understand people's choices at all but I was engaged enough to always want to pick it up and find out what was in store for Kemi, Brittany-Rae and Muna.
This novel follows the lives of three very different women as they try to create better lives for themselves and create meaningful relationships. Kemi is a seccessful marketing executive who takes a chance on a job in Sweden - where as a Nigerian-American she is in the minority. Former model Brittany-Rae allows herself to be wrapped into the world of Jonny, a filthy rich Swede and Muna, a refugee in Sweden, just wants stability and opportunity. Three women whose lives connect both indirectly and directly but who are connected, as well. by the fact that they are Black in a very white-dominated society.
This isn't an easy book to read - both because of the choices these women make but also because of what happens TO them, the discrimination, the trauma, the betrayal. It seems like no one can ever really get a break or find happiness and I acknowledge that obviously not every book needs to be about Black Joy (and the author even comments on this in the afterward) but it still makes it hard when you've invested in characters to see so much pain. Again, this pain was sometimes self-inflicted - but we all make mistakes and I appreciated that Åkerström was trying to give these women the grace to be whole people - and that our skin color doesn't mean we have to always make good OR bad choices. We just, as humans, get to BE.
I appreciated the Swedish setting - that was unfamiliar for me and rather interesting. The interplay with one central character, Johnny, who intersects with all of these women's lives in different ways was intriguing but also a bit disconcerting. He is clearly on the spectrum but his behavior didn't always feel believable to me. The writing was good enough, it didn't blow me away with its beauty and sometimes I didn't understand people's choices at all but I was engaged enough to always want to pick it up and find out what was in store for Kemi, Brittany-Rae and Muna.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
tense
medium-paced