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lildruminion 's review for:
Ties That Tether
by Jane Igharo
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was really looking forward to reading the book. I loved that the author was a POC woman writing POC characters and non-native experiences. I also appreciated that the characters were all pretty distinct and diverse. The writing style drove the plot further with every page turn and it was easy to keep up with. I loved that Azere was powerful at work and the distinction of the way she carried herself at work vs how she did with her mom was a nice juxtaposition. I appreciated that. I love that her best friend, Christina, is only occasionally clairvoyant. And I loved her little sister for being displayed as a typical little sister.
That being said. It felt like a YA novel with a half open door. The spice was mild at best.
I wasn’t really a fan of the trope, nor was I really a fan of the spineless grown up FMC, Azere. In its own way, I understand that that was the whole point, but it got really tiring to read over and over again about her waffling, the back and forth etc. The whole story could’ve been condensed to 50 pages if, with every confrontation of tradition, came a small realization of “huh maybe this doesn’t have to be this way”. It would’ve built up to the larger realization in a much more natural way. And because of that it kinda makes sense why she had the realization the way she had it - because there was no other catalyst for it to come about naturally. The whole thing aboutmom and uncle sleeping together was weird. The build up had to be forced and out of nowhere (literally there were 0 signs of this “romance” between mom and unc) , and rather than challenging the thoughts of tradition, Azere instead clung to her rigidity and nonconformity, which makes it very difficult for me to believe that she suddenly had a turn of worldview and completely away from tradition. Why couldn’t she pull on her no-nonsense ways at work? Why couldn’t she have seen that the commercial and ad she was creating could be dually applied? What the heck happened to that commercial anyhow? It jumped to 4 years later and I wanna know what happened with the commercial!
In addition, Rafael’s story felt like a cake removed from the oven 5 minutes into baking. It was teased several chapters before and was “kept up” due to a look in his eye. Come to him admitting what happened took less than half a page and - again - his entire thought process and probably what should’ve been 3 years of therapy was magically resolvedwith Azere holding his face and repeating “it’s not your fault”? Again, the build up could’ve been something more grand and at a time where things didn’t seem as precarious. Did he ever try therapy? Is he better by the end of the book? Did Azere nearly dying on the table bring back memories of his past life? ? I have many questions.
That being said. It felt like a YA novel with a half open door. The spice was mild at best.
I wasn’t really a fan of the trope, nor was I really a fan of the spineless grown up FMC, Azere. In its own way, I understand that that was the whole point, but it got really tiring to read over and over again about her waffling, the back and forth etc. The whole story could’ve been condensed to 50 pages if, with every confrontation of tradition, came a small realization of “huh maybe this doesn’t have to be this way”. It would’ve built up to the larger realization in a much more natural way. And because of that it kinda makes sense why she had the realization the way she had it - because there was no other catalyst for it to come about naturally. The whole thing about
In addition, Rafael’s story felt like a cake removed from the oven 5 minutes into baking. It was teased several chapters before and was “kept up” due to a look in his eye. Come to him admitting what happened took less than half a page and - again - his entire thought process and probably what should’ve been 3 years of therapy was magically resolved