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A review by softrosemint
The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin
4.0
While I have not read Jemisin's "Great Cities" novels, this little short story / novella made me both very intrigued and excited.
The great thing about the Tor.com short stories and novellas is that it gives a chance to authors to explore or expand on ideas that they might not necessarily be able to fit into their larger work, both debut and established. I believe this pre-dates the full-length novels and it does an excellent job at creating interest in and presenting the concept that is later to become a longer piece of work. (Which is the right decision since reading through the story, I kept thinking how much space it needs to breathe and how it would work out better as a novel or a novella).
Overall, I liked both Jimisin's style here and the themes she explores. I particularly liked how she places Black culture and the Black experience (paticularly that of poor Black people) as central to NYC's identity. I feel like there has always been an attempt to present NYC as white and stifle the amazing art and culture produced by communities of colour, particularly Black communities, while simultaneously being incredibly influential in both the American and international scene.
The great thing about the Tor.com short stories and novellas is that it gives a chance to authors to explore or expand on ideas that they might not necessarily be able to fit into their larger work, both debut and established. I believe this pre-dates the full-length novels and it does an excellent job at creating interest in and presenting the concept that is later to become a longer piece of work. (Which is the right decision since reading through the story, I kept thinking how much space it needs to breathe and how it would work out better as a novel or a novella).
Overall, I liked both Jimisin's style here and the themes she explores. I particularly liked how she places Black culture and the Black experience (paticularly that of poor Black people) as central to NYC's identity. I feel like there has always been an attempt to present NYC as white and stifle the amazing art and culture produced by communities of colour, particularly Black communities, while simultaneously being incredibly influential in both the American and international scene.