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A review by thestoryprofessor
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
There is so much about this novel that is incredibly intelligent and creative. Layers and layers of themes are piled onto rich Caribbean lore transplanted (very relevantly) into a modern day, American context. Zoboi starts conversations about colorism, racism, gentrification, climate, cultural appropriation, motherhood, sisterhood, poverty versus the rich, and more snuggle up quite comfortably with the plot and the characters. This is a perfect example of allowing your story and its characters share the final message for you as opposed to the author forcing their agenda onto a weak plot and characters (looking at you, The Book Eaters).
Additionally, Zoboi has some really creative and intelligently thoughtful storytelling choices that fully realizes the novel-in-verse structure potential and does a lot to characterize fantastic characters. Everything from spacing within lines, stanza construction, and reversal page formatting all the way to word choice, poetic language and repetition, and imagery creates an effectively beautiful, haunting story about prejudices inherited by a society that built walls on them. It convicted me to look at how I am similar to the father character; how I appropriate cultural storytelling to get entertainment and enjoyment out of a practice, tradition, story that means so much more than delightful words on a page. I thoroughly love this book, the storytelling choices it chose to make, and the importance of its messages that ride the waves of strong characters and unique world building.
Additionally, Zoboi has some really creative and intelligently thoughtful storytelling choices that fully realizes the novel-in-verse structure potential and does a lot to characterize fantastic characters. Everything from spacing within lines, stanza construction, and reversal page formatting all the way to word choice, poetic language and repetition, and imagery creates an effectively beautiful, haunting story about prejudices inherited by a society that built walls on them. It convicted me to look at how I am similar to the father character; how I appropriate cultural storytelling to get entertainment and enjoyment out of a practice, tradition, story that means so much more than delightful words on a page. I thoroughly love this book, the storytelling choices it chose to make, and the importance of its messages that ride the waves of strong characters and unique world building.