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A review by elmtreebooks
True Biz by Sara Nović
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I loved visiting this world, and the interstitial nonfiction elements were used deftly to educate while building out the foundation for the story.
Character wise, I enjoyed the range of flawed but interesting POVs we got, some more hate-able, some more lovable.
Plot wise, the ending was a bit abrupt and does not provide a strong sense of closure about the most critical plot element, which is frustrating but appears to be accurate to life for this community — you don’t really get a happy ending, just a glimmer of hope (or rebellion, really) but I probably would have found it disingenuous to the intent of the book for these major systemic issues of discrimination to be wrapped up tidily just to see our characters land happily.
Kayla was amazing and I’m glad we got a chapter from her POV.
This was read as a book club pick, and overall, I will strongly recommend this read.
Quotes that I highlighted:
“But whether or not she banished the thoughts from her own head did little to help Emily, or any of the kids whose parents' affections were distributed on a sliding scale tethered to how well said kid could perform normalcy.“
“She would learn as much as she could and do whatever she could to dismantle all that she knew to be broken, brick by brick, by hand if she had to. She would keep the bricks, though. She would use them to build something new.”
Character wise, I enjoyed the range of flawed but interesting POVs we got, some more hate-able, some more lovable.
Plot wise, the ending was a bit abrupt and does not provide a strong sense of closure about the most critical plot element, which is frustrating but appears to be accurate to life for this community — you don’t really get a happy ending, just a glimmer of hope (or rebellion, really) but I probably would have found it disingenuous to the intent of the book for these major systemic issues of discrimination to be wrapped up tidily just to see our characters land happily.
Kayla was amazing and I’m glad we got a chapter from her POV.
This was read as a book club pick, and overall, I will strongly recommend this read.
Quotes that I highlighted:
“But whether or not she banished the thoughts from her own head did little to help Emily, or any of the kids whose parents' affections were distributed on a sliding scale tethered to how well said kid could perform normalcy.“
“She would learn as much as she could and do whatever she could to dismantle all that she knew to be broken, brick by brick, by hand if she had to. She would keep the bricks, though. She would use them to build something new.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Body horror