A review by kateivy
Those Bones Are Not My Child by Toni Cade Bambara

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I fully understand the importance of this novel to the community of Atlanta. Bambara did an excellent job of layering all the different connections and influences to make the systemic racism and corruption clear. As a mother, watching Zala and Spence deal with a parent's worse nightmare was difficult, as was seeing how this trauma affected the other children. Those dynamics affected me the most. However, the majority of this novel, I would say, commends the community that rose together to take action when they saw others wouldn't. It was beautiful to see how all of these people come together to try and save their communities children. However, those sections were very dense and hard to understand. It was difficult parsing through what they were doing, why, and how that had later impact.