A review by swetharao
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m always looking for books with diverse characters and I was really excited for this one because there were so many! The main characters are Jewish (Shay) and Korean (Dom), the best friend is Indian (Ameena), and there are multiple LGBT characters. However Dom and Ameena, both being PoC characters, barely got any background or character development that actually made them PoCs, other than their names. Sure, Dom knows what to order at a Korean restaurant, but that was about it. There were many opportunities where more details could’ve been brought in like when Dom takes his shoes off indoors and says it’s because his parents were worried about their white carpet growing up. Instead this could’ve been attributed to the fact that most Asians don’t wear shoes in the house. Or maybe when it was mentioned that Ameena and Shay loved estate sales, it could’ve been added that both Jewish people and Indians love a good bargain. 

The story itself was very cute and I would still recommend it as a fun read, but if you are going to write PoC characters, you need more details that actually make them feel like PoCs instead of just nondescript white characters with PoC names.