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axmed's reviews
811 reviews
How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions by Stephanie Andrea Allen
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
too much
Liquid Snakes by Stephen Kearse
i need to re-listen to this but as a buddy read....and i have the feeling it will be a 5* after the second listen.
Gone Like Yesterday by Janelle M. Williams
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
god, there was so much i loved about this book, from the deep and beautiful relationships between different characters, to the ancestral work, to the Blackity Black lives in the book. and was it not for the wildly unnecessary story line between Sammie and the white kid, i would have given this book 5*. the storyline was not only unnecessary, but i found it harmful as well, because instead of depicting a young white teenager in the way that young Black teenagers reading this book know them, the author went out of her way to push the 'of course there are good white ppl' narrative so much, that the character is so unrealistic. it is especially wild to push this shit in a book that is otherwise so Black in so many ways. did the publisher force this on the author? lmao
Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 58%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 58%.
i had to DNF it, because i could not take the heartache anymore...i can handle books that are emotionally heavy, but not when the heavy part is almost none stop.
Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
this novel addresses a very important topic which i have not seen explored in novels as much, but i expect there will be more novels and memoirs to come on this topic, because the exploitation of children by their parents to gain social media following and money, is just getting worse.
this novel has the added layer of the parent doing the exploiting being white and is the stepmom of the main character and the mom of her younger sibling, both of whom are Black (the younger sister is mixed race obviously). but the authors choses to go out of her way to not discuss the inherent harm of a Black child being raised by a white parent. there is only a few times where the author alludes to this, but never actually addresses it. and since the harm that white parent causes the main character and her younger sister is the main topic of the book, it could leave some Black readers thinking that the exploitation would have not have happened with 2 Black parents, which in the case of social media, we know is not true. this then undermines the central point of the novel. also, although the discussion of the harm of a white parent raising a Black child is avoided, we are reminded very often that the white woman REALLY loved / loves her Black stepchild (main character). this is done from the pov of the main character, the main character's father and the ww herself. so that part the writer definitely wants us to know, but discussing whiteness and the harms that comes with that, ESPECIALLY when a yt person raises a Black child....none of that! even her very close Black friends don't mention this AT ALL, which is so unreal, especially for young millennials / older gen z...like bffr!
and to top it all off, they push the moral panic around 'pedos downloading pictures of children' which perpetuates the myth that the thing that is the most harmful to children is a scary stranger on the internet, when the vast majority of children are abused (both sexually and otherwise) by people they know.
i still gave it 3* because it is a topic that is v important and there are so many beautiful relationships in the book that are depicted so well, but it is really disappointing that the author chose to undermine the most important topic of the novel.
this novel has the added layer of the parent doing the exploiting being white and is the stepmom of the main character and the mom of her younger sibling, both of whom are Black (the younger sister is mixed race obviously). but the authors choses to go out of her way to not discuss the inherent harm of a Black child being raised by a white parent. there is only a few times where the author alludes to this, but never actually addresses it. and since the harm that white parent causes the main character and her younger sister is the main topic of the book, it could leave some Black readers thinking that the exploitation would have not have happened with 2 Black parents, which in the case of social media, we know is not true. this then undermines the central point of the novel. also, although the discussion of the harm of a white parent raising a Black child is avoided, we are reminded very often that the white woman REALLY loved / loves her Black stepchild (main character). this is done from the pov of the main character, the main character's father and the ww herself. so that part the writer definitely wants us to know, but discussing whiteness and the harms that comes with that, ESPECIALLY when a yt person raises a Black child....none of that! even her very close Black friends don't mention this AT ALL, which is so unreal, especially for young millennials / older gen z...like bffr!
and to top it all off, they push the moral panic around 'pedos downloading pictures of children' which perpetuates the myth that the thing that is the most harmful to children is a scary stranger on the internet, when the vast majority of children are abused (both sexually and otherwise) by people they know.
i still gave it 3* because it is a topic that is v important and there are so many beautiful relationships in the book that are depicted so well, but it is really disappointing that the author chose to undermine the most important topic of the novel.
Bury Me When I'm Dead by Cheryl A. Head
Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 1%.
fucking former ICE agents? no thank you!
Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
2.5
this was not good in many ways and i regret finishing it. she is a Black woman in a village in Ireland and there is no talk of anti-Black racism lol