A review by heyimberbie
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Honestly, I’m speechless. This will probably be one of the best books that I will ever read in my entire life and I want to recommend it to every single person that I know because it’s just that good. I really have no words on how this could be any better. I don’t even think this deserves 5 stars, it deserves 1000 stars. 

Please. I’m begging. Read this book. 

These are some quotes from the book that basically made me think about stuff:

“one of the things that made you human was your willingness to deviate from the script.”

 “she understood that if you wanted someone to keep loving you, you couldn’t ask them to bear all of your burdens, couldn’t risk letting them see all of who you were. No one really wanted to know another person that well.” 

— fucked. me. up. 

this is how i’ve been feeling lately with some friendships, and reading this honestly made me cry. it’s disappointing knowing that you could share your pain with someone that you genuinely care about and there’s a chance that your pain just won’t matter enough to them. it’s easier to just hide everything away and cry on your own, yes, but it’s much more meaningful when there is someone there that will listen to you and will respect you enough to provide a safe space for you and accommodate you as a friend.

 “Sometimes, the stories we don’t tell people about ourselves matter even more than the things we do say.” 

— shut up i’m crying too hard at this 

“you had to love the sea more than you feared it.  You had to love the swimming so much that you would do anything to keep on going. Just like life, you know?” 

— here they were talking about swimmers, but the way that this woman incorporates life lessons into everything she sees is so wild. like imagine if this quote said ‘you had to love living more than you feared it. you had to love life so much that you would do anything to keep on going.’ thinking about that hit me hard brother, i can’t explain it. my brain can’t come back from this.

“how many of them are listening to what she has to say? Some people call her ugly names in public, rather than engage in real dialogue. This, too, is one of the laws of human nature. If you are visible, you become a target.”