A review by toksyk27
One Year of Ugly by Caroline MacKenzie

1.0

Not surprised to find out this book was written by a Karen because the characters rang quite hollow and seemed to be living a fairly privileged lifestyle for illegal immigrants. Heck a 17 year old even managed to make it on the boats using "her Lyca clad curves" which made it completely okay for the protagonist to disparage her whilst the whole family accept her being groomed into a relationship by her father's nephew who is not only twelve years older but also a raging functional alcoholic. That's just one the many ways this book stereotyped Latinos whilst simultaneously making them come across as much superior to the inhabitants of the island they now find themselves in. Many times reading the book I kept wondering if this book was set on a Caribbean island because hardly was there any mention or features of Black or Indian or Mixed Trinidadians though we do get to have a glimpse of White Trinis who are basically a replica of Housewives of Potomac. Honestly so much was wrong with this book and though the ludicrous romance can hook you to almost forget just how fraught such a reality would be the dark humour simply glosses over the inhumane way migrants and refugees who are often forced to flee their beloved countries with limited choices face.