A review by thelaurasaurus
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Following the story of Patsy, an undocumented immigrant in New York, and her daughter, Tru, left with her father and his wife in Jamaica, this book isn’t an easy read but it is an engaging one. It shows life in all it’s messiness. 
 
I enjoyed the way in which the story developed, with snippets of backstory being shared every now and then, adding a completely different element to something which I thought I had understood. Because of this, I found that my feelings about Patsy and her behaviour changed as the book progressed. 
 
Another thing which I appreciated was the depth of most of the characters - with a couple of exceptions (maybe just one), I don’t think any of them can be considered entirely good or entirely bad. Some of them do terrible things, but also have redeeming qualities. 
 
The book raised a lot of questions for me about the immigrant (and specifically undocumented immigrant) life and status. I think this was exacerbated by Cicely’s character feeling underdeveloped for me. We very rarely hear her voice, so most of what we learn is through what Patsy reads into a situation. It’s clear what Patsy expected to happen when she got to the US, but what did Cicely think was going to happen? In a book which ties most things up quite neatly at the end (which I loved), I didn’t ever feel like I got closure on this. 
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