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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Zoboi's subtle choices with magic are stunning. I love how she interweaves the vodoun beliefs with the narrative at large. A lovely, heartbreaking story.
Good quick read
This story is a wonderful story about how newly immigrates acclimate to their new environment. The story is told from the main character’s, Fabiola, perspective intertwined with each of the other characters telling their story and their perspective. Fabiola is naive about life in America but still manages to navigate her everyday life with the help of her 3 Americanized cousins.
This story is a wonderful story about how newly immigrates acclimate to their new environment. The story is told from the main character’s, Fabiola, perspective intertwined with each of the other characters telling their story and their perspective. Fabiola is naive about life in America but still manages to navigate her everyday life with the help of her 3 Americanized cousins.
So, so close to five stars. The very ending was missing something for me, but I still highly recommend.
A book that is less about immigration and detention and the horrors involved there and more about a teenager slowly integrating into a new life which slowly starts to unravel. While the last part does seem like it's still about immigration, I want to emphasize that it's more on the teenage drama of things than anything else. While elements of Fabiola coming from Haiti play a role in things, it didn't play as much a role as one would think going in. The parts of the book that really dove into her connection with Haiti or bringing the two parts of her life together were the best parts. The book starts strong, but when it became clear at just how superficially topics were going to be handled it became less interesting.
Fabiola as a character changed way too quickly for the time frame we were given. What was weeks in the book felt like it should have been done over months. Kids are quicker to adapt to situations than adults, but with how quickly her mother became an after thought (except where the plot demanded it) just didn't ring true. Especially given how close the two of them were. It would have also been better to focus more on Fabiola's relationship with her cousins, her friends, and her Aunt. She just sort of made friends, and her relationship with her family in Detroit was covered very superficially. Just more interactions with them, between her and Donna or Pri or Chantal would have added a lot to the book. And with how important Matant Jo was in her life, it would have been nice to see either more interactions or just more of Fabiola feeling her absence.
The subplot with Drayton, in terms of him being the big bad as well as his relationship with Donna was a combination of too much and too little. The whole thing sucked time away from what could have been development of Fabiola and her story. But seeing that it was there, there wasn't enough development to expand it to be really captivating.
The magical realism was well done and I enjoyed how it was tied into "Haitian voodoo". Papa Legba and the magical realism aspect perhaps was the only storyline that worked from being undeveloped - a little bit of mystery helps with that.
The ending was extremely rushed.
I listened to the audiobook and the reader Robin Miles did a terrific job. Well worth listening to. As a book that's very tell and not so much showing, it lends itself well to the audiobook format.
It's possible that my expectations going in to the book really swayed my opinion of the book. But I do think even going in with no expectations, I would have been disappointed with the lost potential.
Fabiola as a character changed way too quickly for the time frame we were given. What was weeks in the book felt like it should have been done over months. Kids are quicker to adapt to situations than adults, but with how quickly her mother became an after thought (except where the plot demanded it) just didn't ring true. Especially given how close the two of them were. It would have also been better to focus more on Fabiola's relationship with her cousins, her friends, and her Aunt. She just sort of made friends, and her relationship with her family in Detroit was covered very superficially. Just more interactions with them, between her and Donna or Pri or Chantal would have added a lot to the book. And with how important Matant Jo was in her life, it would have been nice to see either more interactions or just more of Fabiola feeling her absence.
The subplot with Drayton, in terms of him being the big bad as well as his relationship with Donna was a combination of too much and too little. The whole thing sucked time away from what could have been development of Fabiola and her story. But seeing that it was there, there wasn't enough development to expand it to be really captivating.
The magical realism was well done and I enjoyed how it was tied into "Haitian voodoo". Papa Legba and the magical realism aspect perhaps was the only storyline that worked from being undeveloped - a little bit of mystery helps with that.
The ending was extremely rushed.
Spoiler
The book ends with the family moving and also with Fabiola's mother being released from detention. But where are they going? How are they leaving? Uncle Q would still be looking for his money and would obviously be pissed that Dray was killed in their house. There's just a lot of loose ends that came out of nowhere and didn't really need to be there.I listened to the audiobook and the reader Robin Miles did a terrific job. Well worth listening to. As a book that's very tell and not so much showing, it lends itself well to the audiobook format.
It's possible that my expectations going in to the book really swayed my opinion of the book. But I do think even going in with no expectations, I would have been disappointed with the lost potential.
Wow. The ending was not what I expected. I listened to the first half on audio, which was incredibly read -I felt like hearing the protagonists accent allowed me to really fall into the story from her view.
I would like for all young American adults to read this novel- it does a nice job with important themes of immigration, family, religion, identity, violence .
I would like for all young American adults to read this novel- it does a nice job with important themes of immigration, family, religion, identity, violence .
This book pulled at my heart strings until they were so tight that I thought one more page would break them with the weight of a single word. The characters and emotions were so raw it made me cringe when they faced their trials. The realism mixed with the magic of Fabiola's Vodou made the characters dynamic and alive. I highly recommend this book, especially in audiobook form. The narrator is amazing and it really bring the story to life.
This book was almost hard to read because of all the pain and hurt that the reader is bearing witness to, but the difficult decisions and deep feelings that the characters are experiencing feel so real and so close, that it's definitely worth finishing.