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ladyinverse's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
there's another review that sums up perfectly my feelings on it. thank you for the aid 👇
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/59572a8d-8014-4fd3-ae26-8509961cfd79
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/59572a8d-8014-4fd3-ae26-8509961cfd79
dominiquejl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Let me just say- a book doesn’t have to be enjoyable to be valuable! I don’t have to enjoy a book to be glad it exists. But the fact of the matter is…I didn’t enjoy this book. I think you have the best chance of enjoying it if you don’t do the audiobook- like many books with oscillating timelines, you’re not well-served by audio narration, especially if they choose to have one narrator do all the parts. I think they really should have had two readers here. I think if you’re newer to the idea of generational trauma and connecting that to larger overtures of Black history, this might be an especially valuable book for putting together the pieces of how the violence of the postbellum South and the violence of the post-Great Migration North feed into one another. But as a Black historian, I feel confident with both the history and the emotional resonance for these topics already. I think you enjoy this book even more knowing what happened in Philly with MOVE, and thinking of Ava and Toussaint’s story as explaining what leads up to that point. So I’m really in it for the storytelling, but I just didn’t love the storytelling here- the pace would speed and then crawl, the characters were well-developed in terms of understanding what motivated them, based on their prior experiences, and how that shaped their relationships and interactions, but less well-developed in terms of their inner selves apart from their circumstances. I wanted a little more of who they were inside their own heads. A lot of the dialogue and description was well-written, I just wish the inner monologue was as captivating. I super wanted to like this book, I’ve heard so many superb things about this author and I love the idea of the subject matter, but I personally really had to fight my way through this one.
donnalisa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lkf's review against another edition
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
allthaterricka's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
4.5
My thoughts about this one are still jumbled up but this was an experience. It probably would’ve been 5 stars if the pacing was different but also I think the pacing was for a reason.
schray32's review against another edition
2.0
I could not get into this. I tried but so much trauma.
nordstina's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Unsettled reads as almost two separate books to me. Ava and her son have left the fraught home situation they are in and are living in a homeless shelter and much of the beginning of the book is about their life in that shelter and how they try and make do there. Partway through, Ava becomes re-entangled with her son's biological father and their lives are upended by his whims, and they join a cult-like home that he establishes. I just found myself frustrated on what this book wanted to be.
cheyennechemease's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thotdemon's review against another edition
4.0
this was so incredibly devastating at every turn. had to keep taking little breaks from reading because it was very Heavy. i don’t think i’ve read anything quite like this before and it’s definitely going to stay with me.
very aptly titled; everyone in this book was unsettled and i am unsettled after finishing it. all i want to do is give toussaint a hug.
very aptly titled; everyone in this book was unsettled and i am unsettled after finishing it. all i want to do is give toussaint a hug.