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A review by damalireads
The Unfortunates by J K Chukwu
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Sahara Nwadike is a queer, half-Nigerian/half-Black (this distinction is so wild but I get it lol), sophomore student at a PWI in the Midwest on the cusp of ending her life. With the stress of juggling her academics with her personal struggles with her identity, body, family, friends, and depression - who is her Life Partner (LP) – she sets out to do a final meaningful act of writing a thesis outlining her college experience before joining the Unfortunates – black students who disappear, drop out, or die by suicide. We follow Sahara as she stumbles through the first quarter of the year trying to maintain the performance of a Good Friend, Good Student, Good Black Person Fighting Against Endless Institutional Injustice At A PWI while she secretly plans her suicide after the winter holiday.
The plot of the book isn’t really straightforward, so Chukwu does well to add media elements into the pages to help drive the story and find creative ways to engage the reader. I really enjoyed the experimental form of storytelling through emails, texts, footnotes, theatrical scenes, and even a scantron/multiple choice exam sheet (that one was a doozy). Each chapter is titled as a “Track” and had a play on words with popular songs connected to Sahara. The art placed between each chapter also helped to set the mood surrounding Sahara’s mind. As dark as this book gets, there is also a lot of wit and humor woven through the story and showcases a strong testament to friendship.
Chukwu does a masterful job of giving full access to the mind of someone with depression and suicidal ideation. There’s no logic in depression and Sahara’s doesn’t try to argue that there is – another stark example of how she’s accepted LP’s control over her life. Sahara’s grim tone in talking about her own death or flaws can get very heavy and difficult to read, but the honesty exposes how destructive her thought patterns have become. To me, this was probably one of the best depictions of living with depression I’ve ever read.
Something I also appreciated & related to was the depiction of how isolating it can be for black students at a PWI. While the black students had their moments at the Black Student Coalition meetings and a group chat at their fingertips, it did not outweigh the weight the university puts on them to withstand an overall sense of disinterest and dismissal of their struggles.
My college experience wasn’t exactly like Sahara’s, but there were a lot of similarities I could personally relate to, so that influenced my overall reading experience. I have a tendency to judge books that I can personally relate to harsher than those I cannot. I already had a deep understanding with some core topics explored in this book – academia, macro/microaggressions in college, disconnection from culture, immigrant parent, depression, institutional conflict with black students/organizations – so I end up judging the book on whether I walk away with a new/unique way to view these experiences. And unfortunately, I did not, but I don’t think this takes away from the quality of the book. I haven’t read many books that talk about these topics so pointedly (only Disorientation most recently) and there’s immense value in that. Just a personal nitpick that stops me from rating this higher.
3.75 Stars
The plot of the book isn’t really straightforward, so Chukwu does well to add media elements into the pages to help drive the story and find creative ways to engage the reader. I really enjoyed the experimental form of storytelling through emails, texts, footnotes, theatrical scenes, and even a scantron/multiple choice exam sheet (that one was a doozy). Each chapter is titled as a “Track” and had a play on words with popular songs connected to Sahara. The art placed between each chapter also helped to set the mood surrounding Sahara’s mind. As dark as this book gets, there is also a lot of wit and humor woven through the story and showcases a strong testament to friendship.
Chukwu does a masterful job of giving full access to the mind of someone with depression and suicidal ideation. There’s no logic in depression and Sahara’s doesn’t try to argue that there is – another stark example of how she’s accepted LP’s control over her life. Sahara’s grim tone in talking about her own death or flaws can get very heavy and difficult to read, but the honesty exposes how destructive her thought patterns have become. To me, this was probably one of the best depictions of living with depression I’ve ever read.
Something I also appreciated & related to was the depiction of how isolating it can be for black students at a PWI. While the black students had their moments at the Black Student Coalition meetings and a group chat at their fingertips, it did not outweigh the weight the university puts on them to withstand an overall sense of disinterest and dismissal of their struggles.
My college experience wasn’t exactly like Sahara’s, but there were a lot of similarities I could personally relate to, so that influenced my overall reading experience. I have a tendency to judge books that I can personally relate to harsher than those I cannot. I already had a deep understanding with some core topics explored in this book – academia, macro/microaggressions in college, disconnection from culture, immigrant parent, depression, institutional conflict with black students/organizations – so I end up judging the book on whether I walk away with a new/unique way to view these experiences. And unfortunately, I did not, but I don’t think this takes away from the quality of the book. I haven’t read many books that talk about these topics so pointedly (only Disorientation most recently) and there’s immense value in that. Just a personal nitpick that stops me from rating this higher.
3.75 Stars