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janico08 's review for:
If I Stopped Haunting You
by Colby Wilkens
I should have DNF’d this book, but I pushed through… where to start? Pen Skinner (the MFC) was atrocious. It was as if the author was trying for a cute aggressive type, but failed by writing a character who was simply unapologetically abusive. Like, what?! Then, there is Neil Storm, the golden retriever MMC, who I honestly thought had to be possessed by a ghost to find anything likable about Skinner.
Skinner is white-passing and complains about not being able to enroll in her tribe because of lack of the correct documents. I feel like the way the author handled this subject really missed the mark on feeling like an authentic bi-racial and/or cultural identity struggle, and it instead came off as so obnoxiously whiney. The only real background/culture she elaborates on is her dad’s fear of alcoholism due to having native blood… there was no depth behind the internalization of this stereotype. It felt more like appropriation than cultural participation, because Skinner is admittedly jealous of Storm’s success and doesn’t try to discuss the issues she has with his works, but instead chooses violence with no regrets. This makes it seem like she has more issue with his success as a writer than with what he’s writing.
Skinner is white-passing and complains about not being able to enroll in her tribe because of lack of the correct documents. I feel like the way the author handled this subject really missed the mark on feeling like an authentic bi-racial and/or cultural identity struggle, and it instead came off as so obnoxiously whiney. The only real background/culture she elaborates on is her dad’s fear of alcoholism due to having native blood… there was no depth behind the internalization of this stereotype. It felt more like appropriation than cultural participation, because Skinner is admittedly jealous of Storm’s success and doesn’t try to discuss the issues she has with his works, but instead chooses violence with no regrets. This makes it seem like she has more issue with his success as a writer than with what he’s writing.