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veganheathen's review against another edition
5.0
This book is basically the conversations we all need to be having with each other. The first pages were heart-wrenching and the story dove right into how various people are thrust into and deal with such tragedy. I felt so many things while reading this, which is the marker of a great book if it can elicit such emotion. Such a great premise and a great book.
I feel like Jen is so many white women who think they are woke and don’t feel they’re racist, while simultaneously holding racist beliefs. Society has ingrained that into so many without us realizing it. Choosing to listen and learn and become allies is important, especially if it makes one uncomfortable. Through discomfort, we can grow if we remain open.
I received this book for free from a Goodreads giveaway. The review is still my honest and unbiased opinion.
I feel like Jen is so many white women who think they are woke and don’t feel they’re racist, while simultaneously holding racist beliefs. Society has ingrained that into so many without us realizing it. Choosing to listen and learn and become allies is important, especially if it makes one uncomfortable. Through discomfort, we can grow if we remain open.
Spoiler
I really disliked Jen for most of the book and found her to be a very poor friend to Riley. Right at the end of the book she starts the baby steps of trying. I’m not sure why Riley put up with so many micro-aggressions and I find it hard to believe conversations about race never happened while Jen was growing up immersed in Riley’s family world.I received this book for free from a Goodreads giveaway. The review is still my honest and unbiased opinion.
riinahahko's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Taking sides, examining loyalties: how deep is a friendship?
My liking for this was strongest in the first half of the book. The drama and tension surrounding the shooting of a 14-year-old black student by two white police officers, and the story surrounding the wife of one and her lifelong friendship with a reporter covering the story - it did wrap itself around you.
Jen is pregnant, with Riley's help paying for the IVF, when her husband sends her that unforgettable text message. It's a child that's been shot... but it's her husband's career and life now being decided. Riley's own feelings and choices are pulling at her too - Jen is her best friend, but she's worked hard to try and become a news anchor and this story could be the break she needs to show what she's capable of.
Moving from one to the other, the two sides of this debate descend on two characters. Riley takes on the side of Justin, interviewing his mother, while Jen exemplifies the consequences on the shooter. Neither themselves are morally faultless.
Riley is more interesting than her best friend I felt, with secrets long hidden from Jen about her own experiences with race, it's no wonder Jen is oblivious to alternative narratives. Riley has changed her name, her hair, hidden racist incidents from Jen, not pulled her up on comments over the years. But Jen too seems naive in a way that seems unrealistic and selfish.
The powder keg of emotion that simmers following the shooting seems familiar after events of the last few years, and this book certainly reminds us of faults in the system, of prejudices and blindness and what's in need of debate and change.
The ending felt like a let-down, while there is resolution, I didn't feel the women got the finale they could have.
There are some minor characters I would have liked developed more - Riley's brother has his own backstory that could have been made much more of, and her grandmother is a wonderful creation as well. Jen's own mother is a horrorshow, and the men in their lives feel very much minor bit parts.
A good one for discussions. Worked well as an audiobook with the voices of each heard as one narrates, the two-handed story flows well and easily as you listen.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing an Audible copy.
My liking for this was strongest in the first half of the book. The drama and tension surrounding the shooting of a 14-year-old black student by two white police officers, and the story surrounding the wife of one and her lifelong friendship with a reporter covering the story - it did wrap itself around you.
Jen is pregnant, with Riley's help paying for the IVF, when her husband sends her that unforgettable text message. It's a child that's been shot... but it's her husband's career and life now being decided. Riley's own feelings and choices are pulling at her too - Jen is her best friend, but she's worked hard to try and become a news anchor and this story could be the break she needs to show what she's capable of.
Moving from one to the other, the two sides of this debate descend on two characters. Riley takes on the side of Justin, interviewing his mother, while Jen exemplifies the consequences on the shooter. Neither themselves are morally faultless.
Riley is more interesting than her best friend I felt, with secrets long hidden from Jen about her own experiences with race, it's no wonder Jen is oblivious to alternative narratives. Riley has changed her name, her hair, hidden racist incidents from Jen, not pulled her up on comments over the years. But Jen too seems naive in a way that seems unrealistic and selfish.
The powder keg of emotion that simmers following the shooting seems familiar after events of the last few years, and this book certainly reminds us of faults in the system, of prejudices and blindness and what's in need of debate and change.
The ending felt like a let-down, while there is resolution, I didn't feel the women got the finale they could have.
There are some minor characters I would have liked developed more - Riley's brother has his own backstory that could have been made much more of, and her grandmother is a wonderful creation as well. Jen's own mother is a horrorshow, and the men in their lives feel very much minor bit parts.
A good one for discussions. Worked well as an audiobook with the voices of each heard as one narrates, the two-handed story flows well and easily as you listen.
With thanks to Nudge Books for providing an Audible copy.
stark1974's review against another edition
2.0
This book left me feeling heartbroken for Justin’s family. I really felt very little sympathy for Jen or her husband. He came across as a spoiled brat to me. I will give him credit for testifying against a fellow police officer, but that’s it. Riley was simply a means by which I learned more about Justin and the circumstances of the story. The epilogue and the prologue were the most powerful parts of the book for me.
alekathrash's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alison_marie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
The authors really kept the training wheels on for this, which was disappointing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, and Miscarriage
libraryforspooky's review against another edition
4.0
"I don't know how I can sit down with your husband and eat burgers and act like everything is a-okay. It's so not okay. And the fact that you don't get that.."
It's difficult to bring up hard conversations with people you love. Jenny is a white woman who grew up alongside Riley, who is black. The book highlights hardships on both sides when a 14 year old boy who is black is shot by Jenny's husband. It also highlights white privilege up until the end, I'm still not completely sure that Jenny understood that. I think this book has a great concept to bring up hard conversations with people you love, but I didn't really feel the bond between Jenny or Riley at all.
Even in the flashbacks, they seemed oblivious to the other parties thinking. And sometimes envious. We're in an era where time is not regarded to the large factor in staying in toxic relationships. Jenny mentions that she's trying and she may say the wrong things - but in that same apology she mentioned that she doesn't think about the color of Riley since they're like sisters. She isn't acknowledging that in order for her to say that she doesn't think about color, she is providing claim of her white privilege.
Overall, I do like this book and would reread it, more to annotate and break down the book to study it. I gave it four stars as I wasn't a big fan of reading a paragraph in present to be presented with a flashback of the past in the next paragraph. It's not my cup of tea, but tea comes in variety.
It's difficult to bring up hard conversations with people you love. Jenny is a white woman who grew up alongside Riley, who is black. The book highlights hardships on both sides when a 14 year old boy who is black is shot by Jenny's husband. It also highlights white privilege up until the end, I'm still not completely sure that Jenny understood that. I think this book has a great concept to bring up hard conversations with people you love, but I didn't really feel the bond between Jenny or Riley at all.
Even in the flashbacks, they seemed oblivious to the other parties thinking. And sometimes envious. We're in an era where time is not regarded to the large factor in staying in toxic relationships. Jenny mentions that she's trying and she may say the wrong things - but in that same apology she mentioned that she doesn't think about the color of Riley since they're like sisters. She isn't acknowledging that in order for her to say that she doesn't think about color, she is providing claim of her white privilege.
Overall, I do like this book and would reread it, more to annotate and break down the book to study it. I gave it four stars as I wasn't a big fan of reading a paragraph in present to be presented with a flashback of the past in the next paragraph. It's not my cup of tea, but tea comes in variety.
fake_gyllen's review against another edition
3.0
I find it difficult to rate this book. It was thought-provoking, engaging, and easy to read, but the conclusion felt unsatisfactory and maybe a little too safe.
cindy_f's review against another edition
4.0
This novel explores the longtime friendship between two women, one black and one white. We get each of their perspectives in alternating chapters. Jenny is white, married young to a policeman and is six months pregnant. Riley is single and works as a television journalist with ambitions of becoming the first black anchor woman in Philadelphia.
When a tragic event occurs involving a wrongful shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police officers, Riley and Jen’s friendship is really put to the test. Jen’s husband was one of the officers involved. Riley is the reporter assigned to the story. Justin, the teenager later died from his wounds at the hospital. Riley was able to secure an interview with Jason’s grieving mother, which ripped my heart out.
I’ve read many books involving racial bias and prejudice. The reason I liked this book was because we get each of these women’s perspectives- their thoughts and fears. Jen supports her husband’s actions, that he felt his life was in danger, but she has fears for their future and their child’s security. Riley experienced many injustices throughout her life and learned from her grandmother that a family member was a victim of a hate crime. I thought Riley’s chapters were very eye-opening, poignant and powerful.
jwashing1998's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the way in which their narratives were written. One way in which I think the story could've been improved is by expediting some of the main plot points. Some of them were introduced early in the book and sidelined for the "will they/won't they" of the main characters' tension. All in all, it was an approachable way to discuss police violence against black folks.