A review by amandadevoursbooks
The Free People's Village by Sim Kern

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you, NetGalley, Levine Querido, and Sim Kern for the e-ARC. The opinions below are my own. 

Imagine a world where Al Gore won is a great premise. The promise of this book is to explore a social movement, the relationships within it, and the impact it has on its participants. While it did that, I had some major issues with the story that I couldn't shake.

Maddie is a young 20 something, divorced, ex-Catholic teacher. She's in a band based out of a crusty band house owned by a white dude in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The white dude in question is her boyfriend. She has a crush on her bandmate, Red (Xe, xim, xir). The drama. When a new hyperway is threatening the neighborhood, Maddie joins the local organizers to save the neighborhood. The story follows the arcs of the relationship and the movement. 

I liked how Kern envisioned the alternative timeline. The impact of green washing on poor Black and brown people. I loved how real the coalition of organizations felt. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of Native people in Texas. I, like Maddie, was taught these people were "extinct." I also liked the setting. It really felt like Houston and a nasty band house. I loved getting to know the other characters through Maddie.

There were some issues with pacing, and I don't tend to like books with lots of heavy foreshadowing. My biggest issue was the choice to center Maddie in a story about Black and brown people. At every turn, she was coached, mentored, loved, and chastised by Black and brown people. 

It turned into a huge "magical, wise global majority mentorship" trope.
The author even acknowledges it right at the end during a conversation with Shayna. When Maddie is like 'look at me, crying and getting comfort from you a Black woman', and Shayna is like 'we're friends...not strangers on the internet.' It was a little late for me.
 

Every relationship Maddie has taught her something, and the entire story served as Maddie's teaching tool. It was like reading Babel or Yellowface without Letty and June being unsympathetic characters.

Maddie made mistakes I've made, but the story expects the community to reform her not for her to do it herself. In the author's note, Kern thanks one sensitivity reader. Given the intersectional nature of the story the book wanted to tell, it needed more, including from an asthmatic. 

Final thoughts: this book wasn't for me. It's a compelling story. I know it will find its readers. I'm just not one of them. 


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