A review by marywahlmeierbracciano
The Rest of You by Maame Blue

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Born into a powerful Ghanaian family she knows next to nothing about, now thirty-year-old Whitney has grown up in London under her grandmother’s care.  As she physically unpacks the trauma of her clients as a massage therapist, she finds herself wondering about her own past.  Historical flashbacks are alternated with Whitney’s modern world, which is narrated in the second person.  This book explores the things we don’t tell each other—even those closest to us—and discusses intergenerational trauma in a way that I found not to be overwhelming as a highly sensitive reader.  I especially appreciated the representation of one realizing an experience had been sexual violence long after it happened.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Grief