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A review by maedo
Disgruntled by Asali Solomon
4.0
I chose to read this book first and foremost because it's a Philly book, and I have read very few books set in Philly that (I think) truly capture the feel of this city.
Disgruntled quickly moves from West Philly to Ardmore and Bryn Mawr, so it technically doesn't capture the working class center city Philly that I'm interested in, either. However, it is an excellent bildungsroman about an African American girl, Kenya, raised by a father who organizes a group sort of similar to MOVE (which I use as a point of reference because it's set in the 80's) and wants to live out of the mainstream despite growing up on the Main Line, and a mother who at heart wants to keep up with the Joneses. Asali Solomon's voice as third person narrator is unobtrusive, but she's quietly funny and sympathetic to Kenya, who finds herself some companionship but feels awkward and doesn't fully fit in anywhere.
These are the quiet but very common things that snuff out someone's opportunity in life, and they just happen, and you've got to deal. For the whole book you hope Kenya gets something exceptional to break up the deflation, but you leave her in a worse situation than she started with -- by no fault of her own -- and it's disheartening, but real. Consequences don't always match action.
Disgruntled quickly moves from West Philly to Ardmore and Bryn Mawr, so it technically doesn't capture the working class center city Philly that I'm interested in, either. However, it is an excellent bildungsroman about an African American girl, Kenya, raised by a father who organizes a group sort of similar to MOVE (which I use as a point of reference because it's set in the 80's) and wants to live out of the mainstream despite growing up on the Main Line, and a mother who at heart wants to keep up with the Joneses. Asali Solomon's voice as third person narrator is unobtrusive, but she's quietly funny and sympathetic to Kenya, who finds herself some companionship but feels awkward and doesn't fully fit in anywhere.
Spoiler
The end of the book is pretty upsetting. Kenya gets arrested and jailed for dealing marijuana because she leaves both of her parents' homes and the friend-sorta-with-benefits she crashes with turns out to be a dealer who uses her room for storage. This happens right after her plans to attend Wesleyan get thwarted because her father won't let her ask his wealthy white partner for money for tuition and her mother/mother's new husband are bankrupt, so she can't afford it.These are the quiet but very common things that snuff out someone's opportunity in life, and they just happen, and you've got to deal. For the whole book you hope Kenya gets something exceptional to break up the deflation, but you leave her in a worse situation than she started with -- by no fault of her own -- and it's disheartening, but real. Consequences don't always match action.