A review by megansmith
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book, it truly surprised me how fast I flew through the beginning. I think I read over half the book in one sitting? The beginning really pulled me into the mystery and did so with great pacing and a few well placed mysteries that had you questioning how they all tied together. 

I have a few pet peeves with this book, but I think I'd still highly recommend this to anyone that's interested. 
  1. Reading the author's note frustrated me. I can see why it'd make sense to the author to not try and add in writing an accurate retelling of the black experience in 1950's Asheville, when a lot of history has been erased to give an accurate retelling - especially considering this author is white. BUT I do think the erasure entirely is worse in this case. Especially with the Farrows being outcasts of their own, I think you're missing huge plot points and accuracy in this historical fiction piece. It feels like a bit of an excuse and I think reading an author's note that acknowledged she was accurate to the history books over the actual history we know to be true, just adds to the problem. I think it could have been a crucial part of the story to talk another group in the town that would have been outcasted in white society and how the Farrows interacted with that group so, that disappointed me honestly. The story IS very insulated to just a few characters so I didn't process it fully until reading the author's note, but I say this as a white reader with my own bias. But having visited North Carolina many times myself and seeing the ways racism still shows up in the state's culture, it feels like a crucial plot point that was missed. 
  2. There was a bit after the middle that slowed up for me, I think I could've just used some faster pacing but, that was just my take. I think if you enjoy some of the exposition you'll enjoy it, and the author needed to do some more world building here so, it makes sense. 
  3. I still have a hard time grasping the logic / time science of how she was able to do it all but maybe that's just a me thing. I was sprinting a bit at the end to see what'd happen so I could have just not taken the time to fully process this.

All in all, this books faults in mind, I still think it's a worthwhile read.