Category: literary fiction

african author, african stories, Fiction, literary fiction, Nigerian Author

Book Review: The Three Of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams

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“He sees what I see, but from the other side. A woman in between two selves, undecided as to which she can remain loyal”

The premise of the book is pretty simple. There is a wife who has a husband and a best friend. The best friend’s name is Temi (that’s the only name we get). Temi and wife’s husband hate each other and wife is in the middle seemingly not trying to take sides. The book is basically the telling of one night where the three of them hang out in Wife’s house, drink too much and let their bubbling resentments spill over.

“Doubt and truth are so close that it’s sometimes impossible to tell them apart”

I can’t tell you that I knew what direction the author was trying to take besides trying something different. The book had no quotation marks, paragraphs and like I said no character names – save for Temi. If I wanted to reach, I could say that the intention was to say that Temi is the only one with a strong identity but I am not going that far.

I have written before about whether it is possible to like a book with unlikeable characters. I say this because of the way I could not stand these three people. Temi because why are you so intrusive in someone else’s marriage even if they are your best friend? Showing up at all hours to their house and never leaving and judging her friend’s choices like choosing to get married. Wife because why the hell is your friend that involved in your life and mocking your husband and you join in laughing at him? and Husband for putting up with the shit and having low key misogyny.

The book reads like a novella and a thriller except I wouldn’t say I found it thrilling. It was like a thread just unraveling without any building excitement and instead building annoyance. Temi and Wife became friends because Temi “saved” Wife from the rules put on her by her Nigerian parents. But the irony is, Temi seemed to pick up where Wife’s parents stopped and wants to dictate Wife’s life and Wife lets her.

I couldn’t tell if Temi loved Wife romantically or if she loved Husband romantically. And I couldn’t tell if Wife even loved Husband (well technically we got the idea she wasn’t in love with him). My conclusion is that Agbaje-Williams wanted this book open to interpretation and each character represented something in society. The depiction of Nigerian culture was accurate though.

Overall, I think the book suffered from being a novel that came off as a short story. But the thing is, I can’t definitively say it didn’t work because I am sure there is an audience for it. I can admit being biased because the characters were so unlikable to me. I really hated the ending, and I couldn’t even believe that was the end. Since it’s a short book it’s one I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to read for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

Taynement

Fiction, literary fiction, race, romance, Uncategorized

Book Review: Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

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Jess and Josh were sparring partners in a legal history class in college, and she only remembers him being ultra conservative and telling her how Affirmative Action is racist. Landing a job at Goldman Sachs after college, Jess is very displeased to realize that Josh is on her team but as the only person she knows in an ultra-competitive work environment she leans on him for support. As their tentatively formed friendship moves into something more romantic, in a world that is suddenly hyper political in the wake of Trump’s 2016 campaign, Jess struggles with the identity she has created for herself and what she’s willing to compartmentalize for a certain type of love.

I think the publishers of this book did Rabess such a disservice by categorizing this as romance. Yes, the vehicle for the author’s thoughts is very well served by using romance but this book is not primarily about romance. When the blurb for this book came out, it was 1 star bombed on Goodreads because of someone on TikTok reading the description without having even read the book. And then you go on Goodreads and see so many one-star reviews that proudly proclaim that they didn’t read the book, but they just know that it is racist! I felt really bad for the author and that’s why I put this on my list even though I too, was turned off by the blurb. But I consider it a cardinal sin to review a book that you didn’t read or didn’t finish. If I even read 95% of a book and then DNF it, I never rate it on a public space.

I think people expect works of fiction to further their viewpoints instead of it furthering the viewpoints of whatever character the author has created. I think evaluating any book should be – does this behavior sound accurate to the character the author is trying to sell us? Would this character do this? Is this in line with the foundation the author has set for us? In the case of Jess, Rabess is incredibly spot on. I know the exact type of black girl Jess is. The cool black girl who tries really hard to never rock any boat and seeks white validation. I don’t even understand the argument that this book is racist when both the main character and the author are black. Something dealing with race making you uncomfortable does not mean it is automatically racist. You’re supposed to feel uncomfortable. That is the exact feeling that Rabess is trying to create.

Jess grew up in Nebraska in a predominately white town that boasted only her and her dad as the only people of color. She went to school with only one other black person. She grew up with girls who would tell her that boys only wanted “blondes, brunettes, red hairs, in that order”. Her dad tried really hard to shield her from the effects of her childhood but honestly, you cannot self-esteem your way out of how the world treats you.

This background leads to Jess going to college and trying really hard to be as far away from blackness as possible. She doesn’t join the Black Student Union, she never makes any black friends, she dates white men exclusively. Even white men who are only fetishizing her and who she knows don’t actually want her as a human being. Jess says things like “I just don’t get Beyoncé” while her white friends give her a pat on the back about how she’s such a different black person because she doesn’t like Beyoncé and how it’s because she’s just too smart. This is the character Rabess has created, and you have to judge the premise of this book on who Jess actually is, not who you are or what you think is “right”.

So yes, Jess is the exact person who would fall for a Trumper. And frankly, Rabess does such a fantastic job of pacing out their relationship that you’re absolutely torn. You wonder if you too would fall for Josh if you knew him. Josh has so many redeeming qualities, he stands up for Jess so much that even you would wonder if you’d be able to resist him. The last lines of this book I absolutely love because this book was written years after the Trump era in which we’ve seen the effects of electing Trump as President. As women’s rights and affirmative action are now gone and Josh is trying to convince Jess that “Everything’s fine”, we all know that everything is not fine.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this one without reading the blurb and read it with an open mind. This is Rabess’ debut novel and she deserved better than how the mob treated her first offer to the literary world. I look forward to whatever she writes next. I gave this book, 4 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

Chick-Lit, Fiction, literary fiction, romance, women's fiction

Book Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

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‘Love means constantly saying you’re sorry, and then doing better.’

Harriet and Wyn have been together and engaged forever. They are the couple their friend group looks up to as the perfect couple. Unfortunately, they’ve broken up without telling anyone – their families, their friends, nobody. Every year, their group of friends travel to Maine for one week in the summer to reconnect with the people who understand them the most. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth that they are still a couple just to make their last week ever at the Maine cottage perfect, since it’s been put up for sale. This is a rom com so obviously, shenanigans ensue.

I’m a big Emily Henry fan. I’ve read a lot of her books and have progressively loved them. I have to say that this one was a miss for me. I usually love the characters in Emily Henry books especially Book Lovers but the people in this book did nothing for me. I kept waiting to feel the deep love between these friends that has kept them together for so long, but I never did. Everybody was hiding something ridiculous from the group, things that did not matter at all. Who hides a breakup from their best friends for 6 months? Their friendship group just never clicked for me at all. If the entire premise of this book is that this group of supposed best friends never talk to each other about anything ever then what are we doing here? They are not best friends.

I especially enjoyed the romance between the two main characters. How they got together and then seeing the cracks in their relationship was something that was very well written and very thoughtful. I enjoyed the tension of two people who clearly still love each other. pretend to still be together. The snarky banter between them was delightful and something I’ve really liked in all of Emily Henry books. This book also delves into so many different topics like parental alienation, grief, depression, medication, death and the way friendships change as we get older.

My problem with this couple is in how the book ended. The ending is like a Hallmark Christmas movie where a top New York City lawyer moves to the tiny village to be with a man and sell corks. I loved Book Lovers because Henry didn’t sacrifice her character’s career just because she fell in love. The ending of this book was very rushed and very unrealistic. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but the ending is so silly that it made me annoyed especially since even though Harriet found her job hard, she enjoyed doing it. Yes, it wasn’t her passion but who needs passion when you’re 100s of thousands of dollars in debt already and you’re good at it! I will never understand this American obsession with finding your passion, that’s why you get to have hobbies because sometimes a job is a job!

I really like Emily Henry and will read her next offering but if you are new to her, please don’t start here. Read literally anything else of hers. We have two of her books reviewed here and here. My personal favorite is Book Lovers. I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

Fiction, literary fiction

Book Review: Yellowface by R.F Kuang

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“The cultural constructions are clear: so many Chinese ghosts are hungry, angry, voiceless women. In taking Athena’s legacy, I’ve added one to their ranks.”

June and Athena are frenemies. They are both writers that have known each other since college. Since then, Athena has become a successful writer while June is still waiting for her big break. June thinks her whiteness is a hindrance since minorities are in high demand.

Athena signs a lucrative Netflix deal and they both go out to celebrate. The night ends in a way noone expected as June literally watches Athena choke to death. Right before her death, Athena has just shared her finished manuscript with June. June snatches that up, rewrites it and finally gets the breakthrough she has been looking for, but at what cost?

“For the first time since I submitted the manuscript, I feel a deep wash of shame. This isn’t my history, my heritage. This isn’t my community. I am an outsider, basking in their love under false pretenses. It should be Athena sitting here, smiling with these people, signing books and listening to the stories of her elders.”

I’ve been waiting for this book to be available at my library for a long time as it’s been in high demand and it was definitely worth the wait, as I finished this in two days. Once June steals the book I kept wondering where the book would be headed and it was such a ride. The book was just effing brilliant. It’s a book that is about so many things but Kuang manages to streamline them and even make unlikeable characters compelling.Kuang writes a book about the publishing industry. The racism and the tokenism involved but I think what she did best was how she wrote the book from June’s perspective and absolutely nails the voice of a white woman. The way she wrote June’s justifications was great.

‘The living are burdened with bodies. They make shadows, footprints.’

Don’t get me wrong, June absolutely stole the manuscript but Kuang makes us think deeper into a lot of nuances beyond “white woman steals Asian woman’s story about Chinese workers” and I like a book that makes me think. You get to ask yourself, who gets the rights to tell certain stories? Social media plays a great part in this story. The addiction, the scandals, the cancellation and even as a tool for publicity. In a world where it is a huge part of life, it made the story more relatable.

I think the ending/reveal was a little wonky and wasn’t sure why she went that route but honestly, the book was so great it didn’t matter. Finding out that Kuang is just 27 blew my mind. I also found out this is the first time she is stepping out of her usual genre. I definitely recommend this book and would love to hear thoughts on this.

Taynement

Fiction, literary fiction, women's fiction

Book Review: My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin

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It’s 1998 and it’s Isabel Rosen’s last semester at Wilder College. Isabel is an only child who is still reeling from the loss of her mom her freshman year. Isabel feels like a misfit in college but does her best to fit in where she can. One night, a sexual encounter with a “friend” leaves her feeling even more shaken when her friend, Debra tells her that it was rape.

Trying to put the incident behind her, Isabel suddenly finds herself in a secret affair with her teacher, Professor Connelly. The affair seems to give Isabel more faith in herself that is until incidents unfold that let her know that it all might have been an illusion.

I have no recollection of adding this to my TBR but I tackled it as soon as it became available and it ended up being one of the books I have read the fastest, this year. I enjoyed this one because it was quite different and quite compelling. When I say different, I mean that it was a different style of writing. The plot wasn’t exactly linear and focused on one particular storyline. It was a lot of different pieces of material that ended up as a nice dress.

While Isabel was the main character and focal point, she also served as an axis to many other story lines that wove together. We learn more about her family life and what life was like for her growing up. We learn about her friend group in college and the behind the scenes drama of two of her professors who are also friends with Professor Connelly. It definitely sounds more complicated than it was because it was easy to follow and it made sense as you read the story. I particularly enjoyed the little snippets when Isabel would let us know what happened to someone later in the future.

What I did not enjoy with this book was how much I disliked Isabel. I don’t think this will apply to everyone and I totally understand she was going through a rough patch, but I really just wanted her to pick her head up and make better choices. I felt better when some characters in the bool alluded to the self doubt that was portrayed to us. Somewhere along the line, I think Florin was trying to draw a parallel between what happend to Isabel and the Clinton/Lewinski scandal but I don’t think it connected.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this one and recommend it. While I recommend, I can see how this can be divisive so if you read or have read this, let me know your thoughts!

Taynement

Book Related Topics, literary fiction, romance

Ranking Taylor Jenkin Reid’s Books

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You have to be under a rock if you have not heard of Taylor Jenkins Reid. She has had a recent explosion of popularity and a lot of her books are making their way to screen (even though I am finding out that for some reason, they don’t seem to translate well to screen).

It’s always been a goal of mine to read all her books and I finally got around to reading them all. I thought it’d be fun to rank the books from my least favorite to absolute favorite. I think it’s easy to see the difference in my tops and bottoms. I am not a romance person and her earlier works seem to lean towards that vs. the later books where she created worlds that seem so realistic.

Anyways, here we go!

9. Forever, Interrupted – Took me a while to read this one but even though I made sure to read this when I was ready. It didn’t quite do it for me. Didn’t care for the protagonist and I got bored and trust me, I understand grief! You can see my review here.

8. One True Loves – At first it sounded far fetched but then it seemed like Emma’s choice was clear as day so everything felt like going through the motions.

7. Maybe in Another Life -This was a sliding doors type situation. We go back and forth and see what Hannah’s life could have been depending on choices she made. It got a little muddled but I enjoyed it but I don’t think TJR stuck the landing with this one aka the ending wasn’t my fave.

6. After I Do – I liked this because it just felt real. Wasn’t sure what the ending was going to be but I was pleased with it.

5. Evidence of the Affair – A short story only available in the Kindle Unlimited series, I enjoyed this one. It’s straight up in letter format but what a compelling story. You can find my review here

4. Malibu Rising – Talk about world building spanning across generations. My kind of book. The ending wasn’t the best but I enjoyed the book. My review is here.

3. Carrie Soto is Back – You couldn’t convince me Carrie Soto wasn’t real. Great book that just uses tennis as the anchor but it is so much more than that. Review can be found here.

2. Daisy Jones & The Six – The only way to consume this book is via audio. It’s a shame the screen adaptation didn’t do it justice but what a book. Review here.

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – What a masterpiece of a book. I always imagine it as a grand opera. I’d be curious to see if this doesn’t top everyone’s list of TJR books.

What do you think? What are your rankings?

Taynement

african author, african stories, Fiction, literary fiction, Nigerian Author

Book Review: A Spell of Good things by Ayobami Adebayo

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“Now hear me well—what is not yours is not yours o, even if you marry the person that has that thing. If it is not yours, it is not yours o.”

When Eniola’s father loses his job, his life becomes a series of unfortunate events. His family goes from a 3 bedroom apartment to a studio apartment for all 4 of them – his dad, his mum, Eniola and his sister, Busola. His dad falls into deep depression leaving his mum to cater for the entire family. Eniola tries to help his mother by running errands for the local tailor, begging on the streets and being as good as possible to avoid causing his parents any grief.

Wuraola is a beloved child of a rich renowned family. She’s a doctor doing her residency program and also dating Kunle, the son of an equally wealthy and ambitious politician. As they get engaged and their relationship becomes more volatile and violent, Wuraola is trapped between not shaming her parents and loving Kunle out of his madness.

When Eniola’s parents are forced to make a hard choice between educating him or his sister and a local politician takes an interest in him, it leads him down a path that leads to the destruction of two families.

“He stared back at her, unconcerned. She had always marvelled at his calm assurance that everything good in his life would either remain the same or get better. He took good fortune for granted. As though it were impossible that it would abide only for a spell. She had never been able to shake the sense that life was war, a series of battles with the occasional spell of good things.”

A Spell of Good Things delves into class privilege, politics, poverty, familial and societal expectations in Nigeria. We were introduced to Adebayo with Stay With Me and she doesn’t disappoint with her second book. Reading this book right after the recently concluded Nigerian elections and seeing the parallels really made me sad. Local politicians collecting young, barely teenage boys and turning them into murdering, kidnapping and election box snatching thugs for their own political ambitions and never giving them anything in return besides drugs, food and money.

This is a familiar story for anyone who grew up in Nigeria where our politics is extremely violent. It was so sad to see Eniola’s path to the eventual climax of the book and because we got a lot of his family’s history we can’t help but understand why he took the only option he had at that point.

“What if everything that is to happen has already happened, and only the consequences are playing themselves out?”

This book needed a better editor to tell Adebayo to hurry it up. The narrative started out meandering. I kept wondering where the book was even going. It took way too long for the narrative to start moving. We got so many unnecessary scenes that I personally felt added nothing to the story. Adebayo would spend so long describing things that added nothing to the scenes and I was fascinated that an editor didn’t ask her to cut them out.

When the narrative picks up, it really does but then it leads to such a saturation of events in the latter half of the book that could have been spread out and would have made the book much stronger than what we got. I also think that while I entirely sympathized with Eniola, I was very indifferent to Wura. Stay With Me packed such a punch and was such a delight to be immersed in and made you care about every single person in the book but unfortunately, that is not the case here.

My favorite character ended up being Wura’s mother whose story I found so interesting and would have loved to hear more about. How her elder sister raised the rest of them and sacrificed so much to ensure they all married rich men and all became first wives and then continued ensuring that they never had to depend on a man for the rest of their lives. It was amazing to read and every time Adebayo focused on her, I gobbled it all up.

“Time was unforgiving, it didn’t stop, not even to give people a chance to scrape themselves off the floor if they’d been shattered.”

I still definitely recommend this book despite some of my concerns. I think it’s a good story and I can’t wait to continue seeing where Adebayo’s career goes from here. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

Leggy

african author, african stories, Fiction, literary fiction

We Chit Chat: Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah

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Taynement: Time for another Chit Chat!

Leggy: This was entirely a coincidental Chit Chat. We just happened to be reading this book at the same time. How did you decide to pick this one up?

Taynement: My sister-in-law is an avid reader and her review had me intrigued, so I added it to my TBR pile.

Leggy: I picked this as my Book of the Month pick for March and just happened to finally pick it up this month

Taynement: What made you pick it up as your choice?

Leggy: It was frankly the only thing that sounded great plus, I like to support my African sisters. What did you think of this one?

Taynement: A lot of our chit chats tend to be African authors. I liked it. Granted, it had the stereotypical African author book filled with pain and suffering but I was still intrigued.

Leggy: I liked it as well. In fact, I would have rated this one a lot higher than I did, if I didn’t absolutely hate the ending. I think this was great for a debut author. I always grade debut authors on a curve.

Taynement: You know, I was going to ask you about this. You always make reference to debut authors on a curve. How do you define the curve?

Leggy: I always give them one extra star. I didn’t with this one because the ending pissed me off so much. But I always add an extra star to whatever I think the book would have been if it wasn’t a debut book. I like to encourage the arts. lol

Taynement: Before we get to the end, what were the things you liked about the book?

Leggy: I thought a lot of it was realistic. I recognized the families and the African pressure to fit into a mold. I recognized the shame that comes specifically from failing in an African family. I also thought the plot was fast and moved forward easily. It was a compelling story. I liked that Efe and Sam weren’t childhood sweethearts. I actually kept expecting that.

Taynement: I agree with you on the compelling story point, that was what I liked the most about it. Regarding the shame, I think I have read so many African stories full of expectations and shame that I now roll my eyes at it. I get a little irritated now at that storyline especially when it involves grown adults.

Leggy: What did you think of Efe and Sam’s relationship before the kid? Did you think they were ever really compatible?

Taynement: I thought they were cute especially like you said, how they grew into love. But I think they were idealistic and didn’t want to face that they grew up and were different. They didn’t have the same core values. So to answer, they got to a point where they were not compatible but didn’t want to admit it because they were used to each other.

Leggy: I thought they weren’t compatible. And I think Sam would have realized it if he had just listened and believed her when she spoke about not wanting kids. If one person doesn’t want a child, break up!

Taynement: On the flip side, Sam was vocal about wanting kids is the onus not on her as well to listen?

Leggy: I don’t think he was vocal enough to be convincing because once she said she didn’t want kids he stopped talking about it all together but innately believed she would come around.

Taynement: It’s interesting that the book fleshed out Sam’s childhood trauma but didn’t flesh out Efe’s. In fact, it was all very vague.

Leggy: Very vague. Her life before 5 when her family was in London kept being touched on but never expounded on. Reading her parts of the book when she was younger gave me anxiety.

Taynement: I also tried to imagine how a 5 year old would get scars on her back and if it was so bad why would her parents send her back unceremoniously to the same country that put her through so much trauma. Quite frankly, overall, Efe’s childhood was haphazardly written.

Leggy: I also thought it was utterly insane that they let her younger sister get married so early. It made no sense to me at all. If they prioritized education so much, why would they let their daughter go back to Ghana at 18 to get married? I just don’t think she did enough justice on telling Efe’s family’s history and motivations for the decisions they made.

Taynement: So can I say that I am surprised I liked this book because I thought Sam and Efe were both selfish people aka very unlikeable characters?

Leggy: I think I liked it because of that. To me, this book is essentially a romance novel. The difference is that Sam and Efe aren’t like the typical couple you root for in romance. They utterly love each other, yes but they shouldn’t have been together. Sam’s life would have been so much better if he had married a different woman. Efe’s life would have been better if she had married her white boyfriend.

Taynement: Why did it take so long for Sam to realize that she was going through postpartum depression? Oh man! I think she would have been miserable if she married her white boyfriend.

Leggy: I actually think he was the first person who listened to what she actually wanted to do and then took steps to make sure she realized her dreams. He set her up with auditing classes. He set her up with her job. He was fine with her not wanting kids and if they had ended up in the situation of having kids, he could have afforded a nanny.

Also, it took so long for Sam to realize that she was overwhelmed because they’re both selfish people. Sam made a lot of decisions after they had the kid that didn’t involve her happiness in any way, at some point he didn’t even want her to go back to work.

Taynement: We can’t give away the spoiler but that “big thing” that happened where Efe took it upon herself to take action was silly for so many reasons.

Leggy: I was absolutely appalled. Her decision making skills is absolutely zero. It made no sense to me at all.

Taynement: And that’s when the story took a nosedive for me. Did Efe have to go that far? Why mention it at all? Why drag your sister in it? This one I thought was REALLY selfish.

Leggy: And that part of the book and the end made me not grade this book on a curve even though it’s a debut novel. I can’t in good conscience give this better than I rated it.

Taynement: So, my sister in law also hated the ending but I was actually okay with it. Where the writer was headed otherwise did not seem realistic to me. I didn’t see how they could move past the hump.

Leggy: Tayne, I almost threw this book over my balcony when I read the ending.

Taynement: LOL. I was like WHOOOAAA but also, yep, I’ll take it.

Leggy: I figured it out when I realized the chapters were still counting down to something even after we caught up to the beginning scene of the book. That’s when I was like oh, this is what this writer is heading to. You know, I’m a romance girl. Please give me a happy ending.

Taynement: The more we talk about this, the more I want to take away a star because I just remembered another thing Sam did with Efe’s cousin. There were so many loose end stories that were like huh? That particular story did not add or remove from the story.

Leggy: And then it had no impact on anything. I guess it was like making them even. You did this and I did that. So now we can forgive each other and move on.

Taynement: That being said, I would still recommend this book.

Leggy: Oh absolutely. I think it’s a compelling read. I can’t wait to see what she writes next. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

Taynement & Leggy

Fiction, Historical, literary fiction, race, thriller

Book Review: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

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“Music’s the gift. Caring’s the gift. And you give it to others now. There are a lot of ways apart from a concert hall to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Ray is a young, black man who loves playing the violin and he is good at it. His family is not supportive, especially his mom who tried to get him to stop playing and instead get a job at Popeyes for a stable paycheck. He ignores her and continues to play with borrowed violins from school. One Thanksgiving, his grandmother – the only family member who believes in his talent, gives him her father’s violin and when he goes to clean it up he finds out that it is a Stradivarius, a priceless type of violin. This becomes a blessing and a curse as his family suddenly takes interest in it and want to sell it and split the proceeds.

Another family, descendants of the family that enslaved his great-grandfather, also come forward and claim it belongs to their family and sue Ray. On the blessings side, Ray’s profile rises and he starts booking gigs and qualifies for the Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music. A competition no American has ever won. Everything seems to be going great until the Stradivarius goes missing. Ray is suddenly under pressure to find his violin while also practice for the competition.

“Second, he learned that doing what you loved may not be enough, that all the passion and perseverance that roared like blood within you could be trumped by factors that you could never control—factors like the color of your skin, or the shape of your eyes, or the sound of your voice.”

I really enjoyed this one for many reasons but mainly because this book wasn’t just one thing. The book managed to be a family saga, a thriller, a book about following passions, overcoming the odds and also exploring the ugliness of our nation’s history. I liked how Slocumb built the story of Ray’s career as a violinist. We got to be there from the beginning and go through his obstacles and breaks and it felt realistic. As a black person, reading some of his obstacles pursuing a character that the world has stereotyped as “not black”, you understand because every black person has faced being put in a box and being told what you can or can’t do.

“And none of that mattered. No matter how nice the suit, no matter how educated his speech or how strong the handshake, no matter how much muscle he packed on, no matter how friendly or how smart he was, none of it mattered at all. He was just a Black person. That’s all they saw and that’s all he was.”

I will say though, at a point I thought Ray’s experience with racism was A LOT but then reading that Slocumb incorporated everything that he himself (a violinist as well) had experienced in real life and I had to snap myself back to the reality of being a black person in America and navigating a mostly white career world.The other part of the book is figuring out who could have stolen the violin. In a rare occurence, my guess on who it was, was actually correct.

I recommend this book. It engaged me and I wanted to find out what would happen next. I read this one but I have heard that the audio is quite good. On a random note, I am curious why there are two different covers for this book.

Taynement

Fiction, Historical, literary fiction, race

Book Review: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

twonightstands

The year is 1973 and Civil Townsend, a Black nurse in Montgomery, Alabama has just started a new job at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic. Since she has a car, she is assigned home visits. Excited to make a difference in the Black community, she is up for a rude awakening with her first assignment. First of all, she finds out her patients are living in squalor in a one room cabin. Then she finds out that her patients are 11 and 13 year old sisters, India and Erica. She is supposed to give them this new birth control, Depo Provera but they are so young and have not even kissed boys. She gives them the shot anyways but Civil can’t get them or their living conditions out of her mind.

The next time Civil is supposed to give them the shots, she can’t bring herself to do it. Especially when she realizes they are only being assigned this because they are black and poor. Civil is from a middle class family, her dad also in the medical field as a doctor so she takes them under her wing and helps the whole family (their dad and their grandma. Their mom died when they were young) more often than she should. She buys them clothes, does their hair and even takes it upon herself to apply for a subsidized apartment.

One day, Civil goes for a scheduled visit with the girls and realizes that the powers that be have taken advantage of their dad and grandma being illiterate and done something horrific and irreversible to the girls. Civil is filled with so much guilt and leads the way in getting justice for them. The book takes us down this journey and fastforwards many years later when they are all grown and Civil goes down memory lane.

I was gifted this book for Christmas and didn’t know what it was about but I liked it. It’s a heavy subject matter so if you are looking for something light, this is not the book for you. This book was set in 1973 and in 2023, it serves as a reminder of all the injustices that black people have had to face and still face today in America. The book has parallels and makes mention of the Tuskegee study. Perkins-Valdez does a good job of creating a world that is real and you feel everything that Civil does. I enjoyed the fact that Civil is black and came from a well to do family while we also meet India and Erica on the other side, who were impoverished. It drives home the point, for those who don’t know, that being Black is not a monolith and just like everyone else, we run a spectrum.

I loved how human she made Civil. As a reader, you think like Civil that there is no other route than to help the family, because why not? But Perkins-Valdez adds the plot where it is brought to Civil’s attention that she may be making them feel like a charity case and she has to ponder when helping crosses the line to interfering. Even when the book fast forwards to 2016, you can still see Civil grappling with the choices she made. If you are wondering if the back and forth was distracting, I can assure you that it wasn’t. There was more time spent in 1973 than 2016.

This is a book I expect to evoke many emotions (might not be positive) but it’s oh so necessary for us to never forget what was done before and what could still be. The book isn’t all dreary as there are secondary story lines surrounding Civil’s personal life. Her ex, Ty, her mom and her relationship with the girls’ dad. I definitely recommend the book and despite the subject matter, it managed to be a quick read.

Taynement