Review by onemorepagecrew - Nightcrawling

onemorepagecrew 's review for:

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley lived up to the hype, and I fully understand why the author has been named a writer to watch by the New York Times. She has a self-defined interest in “institutional and individual inequity, liberation, and joy through writing” and in this debut novel she conveyed it all beautifully. She was also named the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate and she weaves poetic words throughout the book.

In this story we meet Kiara and I’ll say now that if you read this book she will live in your heart, and you’ll ache for an update on her life when you turn the last page. Kiara is living with her brother, Marcus, and struggling to make ends meet as a barely 18-year-old fully responsible for herself and others around her. There’s an adult weight on her that you feel right away, yet also the deep awareness that she is still a child.

In a turning point of her life, a misunderstanding with a stranger leads her into nightcrawling and because she needs the money, she reluctantly leans into the work. While trying to navigate the new situations she finds herself in, she’s also processing a trauma with her mother and her childhood, unsuccessfully leaning on her brother who is also processing the trauma, caring for her young neighbor whose parent has been arrested, and trying to maintain her friendships.

On top of everything, she finds herself in the middle of a grandy jury investigation with the Oakland Police Department. I won’t say more about this and let it unfold for you as a reader, but it will probably break your heart and enrage you at the same time.

This novel is intense, beautiful, vulnerable, and will grab hold of you. I’m so glad I read it and can’t wait to see what’s to come from this author.

Content warnings: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Self-harm, Death of child, Police corruption and violence

Content Warnings