A review by katie_helf96
Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I give Zoboi credit for writing such a profoundly jackass of a dad that I was crying rage tears. He was just such a bulldozer over all the women in his life. As for race/racism, I understood where Nigeria is coming from, with her hate/mistrust of white people, especially with how she grew up in the movement and just knowing white people in general. I do think that the vast majority of white people are at least a little bit racist but there’s a sliding scale. Some white people are more racist than others, but a large amount of white people (especially younger ones) are trying to recognize and dismantle the inherent racism they were brought up with. Those people give me hope for the future. 

What I couldn’t stand was the misogyny/sexism from the dad. Friggin’ Keith. I did enjoy the ending though. It gave me some hope for Nigeria and her future/independence. This book needs more than just a couple paragraphs for a review. You could write a dissertation on the complexity of it. I didn’t even talk about Che/Chris. 
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