turns out there is an unlikeable female main character i cannot fuck with and it’s leila whittaker. i hated her voice, her pretension, her rampant unchecked privilege and the way she thought of and spoke to her kids. and yet somehow i made it to the end of this book and thought of MONSTERS by claire dederer and it all came together so clearly.
such a clear and rational response to the prison industrial complex, and ways we can seek better outcomes for all. a great resource to send to those in our lives clinging on to old, damaging ideas about policing and prisons.
i really enjoyed this — i think reid has an incredible way of exploring race, class and coming of age in such an approachable way — but the number of characters ultimately made the novel a little muddied for me
i enjoyed the hollywood satire here but the novel-within-the-novel really dragged for me, especially in the last 100 pages, and didn’t satisfy me as either magical realism or cli-fi.