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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved this book so much. About as close as it gets to perfect to me. Very emotional and reflective, but a great exploration of grief and the way it impacts people in different ways. Cannot recommend this book enough.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Brother gives a portrait of a Trinidadian family living in a Black and immigrant neighbourhood in Toronto. After witnessing a horrific event, the older brother Francis decides he needs to get away from home, leaving his mother distraught and his younger brother Michael to take care of her. This is the defining moment of their lives, categorising their memories into ‘before’ and ‘after’ that day, in this coming of age story full of love, music, and community.
It wasn’t until the last 20 pages that I really got what this book was about. The theme of fragility is woven all throughout this book: of the mind, of family and friendship, of society, things that by their very nature ought to be stable. We often look mockingly upon how fragile masculinity is, but this book made realise how much more fragile it can be when layered on top of the precarity of living as a racial minority or being an immigrant or being working poor (or all three). And despite immigrant communities often being well-connected and supportive of one another, which to an extent can cushion some of that precarity, a regular police presence serves to undermine them. In this book we only get to see a sliver of how this toxic masculinity affects people interpersonally, however, we do more clearly see how the masculine psyche of the police is similarly fragile with their cowardice and assertions of power and dominance over people.
We tend to think of vulnerability as having two meanings: being defenceless or susceptible to attack, or showing emotional honesty, with the distinguishing factor between the two being autonomy. But vulnerability is not self-determined - we don’t get to decide the parameters or borders of our weaknesses - and this novel showcases the multifaceted nature of this truth beautifully.
The way that Chariandry tied the themes with the plot and characters was pure genius. Great writing, great characters, and I really enjoyed how music was a part of the story.
It wasn’t until the last 20 pages that I really got what this book was about. The theme of fragility is woven all throughout this book: of the mind, of family and friendship, of society, things that by their very nature ought to be stable. We often look mockingly upon how fragile masculinity is, but this book made realise how much more fragile it can be when layered on top of the precarity of living as a racial minority or being an immigrant or being working poor (or all three). And despite immigrant communities often being well-connected and supportive of one another, which to an extent can cushion some of that precarity, a regular police presence serves to undermine them. In this book we only get to see a sliver of how this toxic masculinity affects people interpersonally, however, we do more clearly see how the masculine psyche of the police is similarly fragile with their cowardice and assertions of power and dominance over people.
We tend to think of vulnerability as having two meanings: being defenceless or susceptible to attack, or showing emotional honesty, with the distinguishing factor between the two being autonomy. But vulnerability is not self-determined - we don’t get to decide the parameters or borders of our weaknesses - and this novel showcases the multifaceted nature of this truth beautifully.
The way that Chariandry tied the themes with the plot and characters was pure genius. Great writing, great characters, and I really enjoyed how music was a part of the story.
A gripping portrayal of the effects a police shooting & the death of a second generation Trinidadian youth. Set in Scarborough, it traverses the difficulties faced by the younger brother, left to care for his mentally ill single mother.
I listened to the audiobook version, and it was fabulous. Nuanced language, and a strong storyline meant I would often run farther than I'd planned in order to hear what happened next. Beautiful, and well-deserving of the WT Fiction Prize.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes