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helenaruby's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.0
THIS IS THE LEAST POLITICALLY CORRECT BOOK I HAVE EVER READ AND I LOVED EVERY PAGEEEE!! i cannot believe i found a book that sits at the exact intersection between “terminally online” and “black intellectualism”— truly it was made for me. the book is a wild ride start to finish and full of so many witty and painfully true observations about race in the west. i really cannot describe the experience of reading this in a review, all i can say is this book was so original and unique. i’ve not come across anything like it before. all i would say to anyone thinking of reading it is
1) you’ll have a much better experience of this if you are a western black person. it’s FULL of hyper specific pop culture references which work amazingly but would not land at all on people who are not african american or at the very least VVVV clued in on AA culture. (it really gives FUBU😋)
2) HEED the trigger warnings. this is a very funny book. it also has a graphic suicide attempt in it, among other things. i didn’t know that before reading and i sure wish i did 😭!
3) it has the n word in it so many times. more than a quentin tarantino joint. like 5 times per page. i feel like this would make a lot of people too uncomfortable to read it 😂
i will be giving this a re read + annotation someday so i can really analyse all the details and i will be checking out paul beatty’s other works!!
1) you’ll have a much better experience of this if you are a western black person. it’s FULL of hyper specific pop culture references which work amazingly but would not land at all on people who are not african american or at the very least VVVV clued in on AA culture. (it really gives FUBU😋)
2) HEED the trigger warnings. this is a very funny book. it also has a graphic suicide attempt in it, among other things. i didn’t know that before reading and i sure wish i did 😭!
3) it has the n word in it so many times. more than a quentin tarantino joint. like 5 times per page. i feel like this would make a lot of people too uncomfortable to read it 😂
i will be giving this a re read + annotation someday so i can really analyse all the details and i will be checking out paul beatty’s other works!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt
gharper123's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Very tough read & even harder to rate. I found the book very insightful & at times hilarious, but I did not necessarily enjoy it. I wouldn’t recommend not to read it, but I’d also hesitate to recommend. Really tricky book. If this review peaks your interest, than you should read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
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