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A review by lynseyreads_
Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
4.0
This book is like when you go to eat hot pizza and it burns the roof of your mouth, but you just keep eating it anyways. That is to say, the storytelling is amazing, yet the content WILL hurt.
This book is about relationships and how we can’t really, truly know someone else and what they are going through. It’s also about speaking up loudly even if you’re the only person speaking at all, and alternately, the necessity of adults listening to kids*. It’s about the flaws of society and policing when it comes to protecting and believing Black girls. It showcases the question, “whose responsibility is it to keep us safe?” It’s about perspective.
There are some beautiful, lyrical lines in this book. And while I think this book is mostly classified as a YA mystery, it definitely feels more realistic horror to me. Check the trigger warnings before diving in.
While overall I loved it, I *was* expecting a little more from the ending, like the giant, sucks-all-the-air-out-of-you type twist that Jackson’s book, Allegedly, gives. Also, the dialogue felt a little forced and cringey sometimes, and the timelines were a little difficult to follow at points (although by the end I get ~why~ she uses this structure), so that’s why it’s not *quite* a 5 star for me.
———spoilers ahead———
*Claudia has, on the surface, an amazing support system. A mom, dad, grandma, librarian, church folks, a teacher she really counts on, a dance teacher…but yet in so many ways, the adults in her life fail her, from not diagnosing her dyslexia to not taking her seriously enough about her suspicions about Monday’s safety. I don’t have a big takeaway here, but just another part of the book that is so hurtful.
This book is about relationships and how we can’t really, truly know someone else and what they are going through. It’s also about speaking up loudly even if you’re the only person speaking at all, and alternately, the necessity of adults listening to kids*. It’s about the flaws of society and policing when it comes to protecting and believing Black girls. It showcases the question, “whose responsibility is it to keep us safe?” It’s about perspective.
There are some beautiful, lyrical lines in this book. And while I think this book is mostly classified as a YA mystery, it definitely feels more realistic horror to me. Check the trigger warnings before diving in.
While overall I loved it, I *was* expecting a little more from the ending, like the giant, sucks-all-the-air-out-of-you type twist that Jackson’s book, Allegedly, gives. Also, the dialogue felt a little forced and cringey sometimes, and the timelines were a little difficult to follow at points (although by the end I get ~why~ she uses this structure), so that’s why it’s not *quite* a 5 star for me.
———spoilers ahead———
*Claudia has, on the surface, an amazing support system. A mom, dad, grandma, librarian, church folks, a teacher she really counts on, a dance teacher…but yet in so many ways, the adults in her life fail her, from not diagnosing her dyslexia to not taking her seriously enough about her suspicions about Monday’s safety. I don’t have a big takeaway here, but just another part of the book that is so hurtful.