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haynoelle96 's review for:
I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
by Gilly Segal, Kimberly Jones
So.... I thought that this going to be way more intense than it was. Nonetheless, I thought this was a good story with a good concept that just didn't quite deliver the gut punch that I was expecting or wanted. While I am rating this a 4 star on goodreads, it was really more like a 3.5*. Like all my other reviews, I'm going to focus on 2 main points (characters and plot) and then maybe a couple of other topics that I find important.
Let's start with the characters. We have two main characters in this novel, Lena and Campbell. Lena is the typical cool girl who has nice style and always looks good but really just wants to hang out with her friends and have her boyfriend accepted by her friends and family. Campbell is the new girl that just moved from her old school and has absolutely no intention on trying to fit in at her new school. We get two perspectives in this novel, one from Lena, and one from Campbell. They are written by the two different authors and I like how the book was written. You can tell when one character is speaking, even without the chapter titles that they have. A big part of the novel is the race different between Lena and Campbell (Lena is black and Campbell is white) and while it is a big difference, it's told in such a way that makes it a learning experience instead of a lesson being shoved down your throat. Personally, I did like Lena more than Campbell, just because it seems as if Campbell is significantly more sheltered than Lena but to the point where it's almost ridiculous. For instance, when someone says something racist in the book, it's like she's almost shocked that racism even still exists. Lena, on the other hand, has a good head on her shoulders, for the most part, we're ignoring the fact that she constantly makes stupid decisions based on her boyfriend.
The plot was one that I enjoyed, but I expected more out of. To set the scene, there's a big football game between high school rivals. One is a predominantly white school and the other is predominantly black? I think?? Anyways, one group of white kids is being super racist and obviously a group of kids from the other school says something back and therein begins the riot. While I thought this book was going to be a high stakes plot with danger at every corner, that's not what this was. This was about Lena and Campbell banding together in order to find their way home after a riot breaks out at the weekly football game. When I thought there was going to be a mass shooting and the book was going to be about avoiding getting killed at the turn of every page, I got two girls making weirdly dumb decisions and focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time. Lena was determined to get to her boyfriend all night when she literally could've just gone home in a quicker amount of time. I don't know, I was a little underwhelmed.
Now let's talk about what this book is really about. It's really a commentary about how race is seen differently between a black person and a white person. While Lena reacts to things in a rational way, Campbell is even surprised that something like this could even happen! Campbell thinks the cops will help the situation, Lena knows better than that. There were certain times that Campbell would say something ignorant or racist and Lena would call her out on it which I appreciated. But that was really what I appreciated about this book.
Yeah, so while I did enjoy this book for what it was, I was expecting this to be a little more high stakes. Lena and Campbell weren't in danger 80% of the time and that's not really what I wanted. But considering this was a debut novel, this was extremely well-written and the idea was a good one. If you read the synopsis and want to read this book, then I think you should give it a try!! Just be aware of what you're getting yourself into. If you've read this book and felt the same, feel free to message me about it!!
Happy Reading everyone!!!
Let's start with the characters. We have two main characters in this novel, Lena and Campbell. Lena is the typical cool girl who has nice style and always looks good but really just wants to hang out with her friends and have her boyfriend accepted by her friends and family. Campbell is the new girl that just moved from her old school and has absolutely no intention on trying to fit in at her new school. We get two perspectives in this novel, one from Lena, and one from Campbell. They are written by the two different authors and I like how the book was written. You can tell when one character is speaking, even without the chapter titles that they have. A big part of the novel is the race different between Lena and Campbell (Lena is black and Campbell is white) and while it is a big difference, it's told in such a way that makes it a learning experience instead of a lesson being shoved down your throat. Personally, I did like Lena more than Campbell, just because it seems as if Campbell is significantly more sheltered than Lena but to the point where it's almost ridiculous. For instance, when someone says something racist in the book, it's like she's almost shocked that racism even still exists. Lena, on the other hand, has a good head on her shoulders, for the most part, we're ignoring the fact that she constantly makes stupid decisions based on her boyfriend.
The plot was one that I enjoyed, but I expected more out of. To set the scene, there's a big football game between high school rivals. One is a predominantly white school and the other is predominantly black? I think?? Anyways, one group of white kids is being super racist and obviously a group of kids from the other school says something back and therein begins the riot. While I thought this book was going to be a high stakes plot with danger at every corner, that's not what this was. This was about Lena and Campbell banding together in order to find their way home after a riot breaks out at the weekly football game. When I thought there was going to be a mass shooting and the book was going to be about avoiding getting killed at the turn of every page, I got two girls making weirdly dumb decisions and focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time. Lena was determined to get to her boyfriend all night when she literally could've just gone home in a quicker amount of time. I don't know, I was a little underwhelmed.
Now let's talk about what this book is really about. It's really a commentary about how race is seen differently between a black person and a white person. While Lena reacts to things in a rational way, Campbell is even surprised that something like this could even happen! Campbell thinks the cops will help the situation, Lena knows better than that. There were certain times that Campbell would say something ignorant or racist and Lena would call her out on it which I appreciated. But that was really what I appreciated about this book.
Yeah, so while I did enjoy this book for what it was, I was expecting this to be a little more high stakes. Lena and Campbell weren't in danger 80% of the time and that's not really what I wanted. But considering this was a debut novel, this was extremely well-written and the idea was a good one. If you read the synopsis and want to read this book, then I think you should give it a try!! Just be aware of what you're getting yourself into. If you've read this book and felt the same, feel free to message me about it!!
Happy Reading everyone!!!