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A review by marisazane
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
2.5
Three fifth graders narrate their school and home lives against the backdrop of the Atlanta child murders. This is fiction, but the murders were a real event that happened between 1979-81. Tasha is on the fringe of the popular group at school, but those girls always find ways to make her feel like she doesn’t quite fit in, like when her parents separate or a boy from the projects takes interest in her. Rodney’s a loner at school and steals candy from the store to gain friends and to defy his authoritarian father. Octavia is being raised by a single mom who lies and she gets teased at school about her dark skin. Despite limits parents and teachers put on the fifth graders’ newfound freedom to keep them safe from the predator, two children from the class go missing.
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I expected this book to be something else, so it wasn’t a hit for me. Each child had an interesting story of the difficulties in their lives and what they perceived to be difficult. I wanted their stories to tie together better, but they were told consecutively and that didn’t work well for me. Their stories were also told from different narrative perspectives (first, second, third person), and if there was a literary significance to this, it was lost on me. 🤷🏻♀️ I also expected a mystery element to the story that was just not there. I enjoyed An American Marriage by this author much more and would recommend reading that one instead.
⭐️⭐️✨
—
I expected this book to be something else, so it wasn’t a hit for me. Each child had an interesting story of the difficulties in their lives and what they perceived to be difficult. I wanted their stories to tie together better, but they were told consecutively and that didn’t work well for me. Their stories were also told from different narrative perspectives (first, second, third person), and if there was a literary significance to this, it was lost on me. 🤷🏻♀️ I also expected a mystery element to the story that was just not there. I enjoyed An American Marriage by this author much more and would recommend reading that one instead.
⭐️⭐️✨