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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-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
sad
medium-paced
so uneven and just odd. I can see what the author was trying to do. She didn’t stick the landing…didn’t bring it home…didn’t make the donuts.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I think this covered some important themes, but it opened up a few things that didn’t get fully resolved or addressed. Muna held a special place in my heart.
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNF @56%. I started reading the second novel before the first and then realized and went back. I didn't finish either because there were just to many issues for me. Mainly the portrayal of autism was just too rough. Everyone kept describing Jonny as creepy and disconcerting. The fetishization of black women is an incredibly important topic but this author seemed to link the fetishization to autism which is rough to say the least.
I also agree with some other critiques where I would have like to see some level of solidarity between the characters. This was probably a choice to emphasize the isolation each character was experiencing and I get that but I still didn't like it. There was a lot of good topics that I just felt were being covered poorly.
Finally the audio book was just atrocious. Why why why would the cast a British narrator to read for American and Swedish characters ESPECIALLY if she wasn't going to do the accent research. The book explicitly said at one point that Kemi had an American accent but the narrator read it with a fake "Nigerian" accent the entire time. Also the southern accent she used for Brittany was TERRIBLE. not to mention SHE'S FROM ATLANTA so that wouldn't even be her accent in the first place. Truly a quick google search was all she needed to know that.
Spoiler
Plus the author said "he has a special interest and his special interest is his dead ex."I also agree with some other critiques where I would have like to see some level of solidarity between the characters. This was probably a choice to emphasize the isolation each character was experiencing and I get that but I still didn't like it. There was a lot of good topics that I just felt were being covered poorly.
Finally the audio book was just atrocious. Why why why would the cast a British narrator to read for American and Swedish characters ESPECIALLY if she wasn't going to do the accent research. The book explicitly said at one point that Kemi had an American accent but the narrator read it with a fake "Nigerian" accent the entire time. Also the southern accent she used for Brittany was TERRIBLE. not to mention SHE'S FROM ATLANTA so that wouldn't even be her accent in the first place. Truly a quick google search was all she needed to know that.
As I often do while reading a book, I thought about how I was going to end up reviewing it. For the most part, I found the book pretty good and interesting, but I fucking hated the ending. It pissed me off so much. And I'm not usually one for women's contemporary literature - I'm more of a fan or romance, scifi and fantasy. But I saw this in a bookshop and I thought the cover and description were interesting, so I wanted to give it a shot. Boy, do I wish I hadn't. This is 12 hours or audio and 5 days of my life I'll never get back.
My one word for this book after finishing it: hopelessness. This book is pure misery porn.
This review contains spoilers.
The book is about 3 Black women that end up living in Stockholm, Sweden. The synopsis does a good job explaining that. What the synopsis and beginning of the book DON'T explain are the content warnings. So let me give you the content warnings: racism, micro-aggressions, fatphobia, xenophobia, fetishization of Black women, cheating, ableism, death of friends, TWO suicides (of a side character and a main character)
I thought, for the most part, the book was pretty good. Kemi's story had a full plot to it - she was struggling in America because her dating life was unfulfilling, and her boss REALLY wanted to fuck her but was married. So when she gets the opportunity to move to a new country and start over, she takes it. Only to have a huge culture shock. Men here either call her fat or fetishize her. The job she's gotten is basically just tokenising her being Black for inclusion brownie points. So when she finally finds a boyfriend who's an incredible good guy and treats her well - well OF COURSE she has to get a bee in her bonnet about the fact that he's a security guard instead of a big important job like hers. And then Johnny's asshole best friend starts working at the same company as her and she falls for him EVEN THOUGH HE'S MARRIED, and it's like. Jesus fuck you have not learnt anything since this book started, have you? She makes all the same mistakes over and over again and then gets frustrated that her life isn't better - but like I said! That's a book plot! I might get frustrated at her choices, but they're believable choices and it makes for a good story. Her section of the book is the only one with a satisfying ending.
Then, Brittany-Rae. Brittany has a boyfriend of 4 years who wants to start a family with her, but she's got cold feet. When Johnny invites her to dinner, she throws it all away to go with him, even though she's second-guessing the decision the entire time. Then she leaves the dinner, he follows her, and he forces a kiss on her, which she then slaps him and tells him to never do that again, and leaves. He then starts sending her a bunch of flowers, and shows up at her door, and her boyfriend throws Johnny down the stairs and then breaks up with her. And what does Brittany-Rae do? She lets Johnny in, gets head from him, and then decides to date the man, even though he's got more red flags that one can count.
Brittany gets pregnant, Johnny begs her to keep the baby and to marry him, his entire family seems to either hate Brittany or are just straight up racist, and she marries him anyway. And quits her job and leaves her home country. And doesn't learn any Swedish. And then finds out that Johnny had had a girlfriend when he was younger who had looked JUST like Brittany, who had died in child-birth, and oh yeah Johnny had named their daughter after her.
And that's where Brittany's story ends. She barely has any personality the entire book, and her entire plot revolves around this man. Does she have hobbies? Well she wants to do fashion design, but we never actually hear if she does start it. Brittany's story is basically a horror story.
Also, Johnny has undiagnosed autism. This is absolutely terrible way to portray an autistic character. He's the villain of this story. The author says in the author's note at the end that she doesn't have autism, and then uses that lovely phrase of "autistic people have their own superpowers" that I personally hate.
Muna's story is that she was at a refugee camp for ages, fell in love with a guy that kisses her and then the next day lights himself on fire in the middle of the food hall, right in front of her. She moves to Stockholm after that and her social worker is a lovely lady, and she has 2 roommates. Both roommates leave. The social worker dies (and Muna's the one who finds her body), and then Muna gets sexually harassed and has xenophobic shit yelled at her by a drunk guy on the street, she pushes him, and he cracks his head on the pavement and dies. And then she runs away and jumps in front of a fucking train and kills herself.
And this is what pissed me off the most about this book. After it ends with one of the main character fucking killing herself, with no content warnings about this at the beginning of the book, the author has the bloody cheek of adding a "it is not hopeless! Don't kill yourself, here's some phone numbers to call!" PSA. Like, are you fucking kidding me? That's like someone purposefully driving over my dog, killing it, and then rolling down the window to give me a PSA on why dog leashes are a good idea.
This book is supposed to be misery porn, and unfortunately instead of making me sad it pissed me the fuck off. I'm honestly tempted to just never read women's literature ever again because of this fucking book.
My one word for this book after finishing it: hopelessness. This book is pure misery porn.
This review contains spoilers.
The book is about 3 Black women that end up living in Stockholm, Sweden. The synopsis does a good job explaining that. What the synopsis and beginning of the book DON'T explain are the content warnings. So let me give you the content warnings: racism, micro-aggressions, fatphobia, xenophobia, fetishization of Black women, cheating, ableism, death of friends, TWO suicides (of a side character and a main character)
I thought, for the most part, the book was pretty good. Kemi's story had a full plot to it - she was struggling in America because her dating life was unfulfilling, and her boss REALLY wanted to fuck her but was married. So when she gets the opportunity to move to a new country and start over, she takes it. Only to have a huge culture shock. Men here either call her fat or fetishize her. The job she's gotten is basically just tokenising her being Black for inclusion brownie points. So when she finally finds a boyfriend who's an incredible good guy and treats her well - well OF COURSE she has to get a bee in her bonnet about the fact that he's a security guard instead of a big important job like hers. And then Johnny's asshole best friend starts working at the same company as her and she falls for him EVEN THOUGH HE'S MARRIED, and it's like. Jesus fuck you have not learnt anything since this book started, have you? She makes all the same mistakes over and over again and then gets frustrated that her life isn't better - but like I said! That's a book plot! I might get frustrated at her choices, but they're believable choices and it makes for a good story. Her section of the book is the only one with a satisfying ending.
Then, Brittany-Rae. Brittany has a boyfriend of 4 years who wants to start a family with her, but she's got cold feet. When Johnny invites her to dinner, she throws it all away to go with him, even though she's second-guessing the decision the entire time. Then she leaves the dinner, he follows her, and he forces a kiss on her, which she then slaps him and tells him to never do that again, and leaves. He then starts sending her a bunch of flowers, and shows up at her door, and her boyfriend throws Johnny down the stairs and then breaks up with her. And what does Brittany-Rae do? She lets Johnny in, gets head from him, and then decides to date the man, even though he's got more red flags that one can count.
Brittany gets pregnant, Johnny begs her to keep the baby and to marry him, his entire family seems to either hate Brittany or are just straight up racist, and she marries him anyway. And quits her job and leaves her home country. And doesn't learn any Swedish. And then finds out that Johnny had had a girlfriend when he was younger who had looked JUST like Brittany, who had died in child-birth, and oh yeah Johnny had named their daughter after her.
And that's where Brittany's story ends. She barely has any personality the entire book, and her entire plot revolves around this man. Does she have hobbies? Well she wants to do fashion design, but we never actually hear if she does start it. Brittany's story is basically a horror story.
Also, Johnny has undiagnosed autism. This is absolutely terrible way to portray an autistic character. He's the villain of this story. The author says in the author's note at the end that she doesn't have autism, and then uses that lovely phrase of "autistic people have their own superpowers" that I personally hate.
Muna's story is that she was at a refugee camp for ages, fell in love with a guy that kisses her and then the next day lights himself on fire in the middle of the food hall, right in front of her. She moves to Stockholm after that and her social worker is a lovely lady, and she has 2 roommates. Both roommates leave. The social worker dies (and Muna's the one who finds her body), and then Muna gets sexually harassed and has xenophobic shit yelled at her by a drunk guy on the street, she pushes him, and he cracks his head on the pavement and dies. And then she runs away and jumps in front of a fucking train and kills herself.
And this is what pissed me off the most about this book. After it ends with one of the main character fucking killing herself, with no content warnings about this at the beginning of the book, the author has the bloody cheek of adding a "it is not hopeless! Don't kill yourself, here's some phone numbers to call!" PSA. Like, are you fucking kidding me? That's like someone purposefully driving over my dog, killing it, and then rolling down the window to give me a PSA on why dog leashes are a good idea.
This book is supposed to be misery porn, and unfortunately instead of making me sad it pissed me the fuck off. I'm honestly tempted to just never read women's literature ever again because of this fucking book.