CW: racism (white/non-Black characters use the n-word, written as “n-word,” in action adjacent to the main characters; typical racist arguments are made about affirmative action, etc–these are precipitating events for our protagonist to realize that she isn’t actually cool with such incidents)
Last of the books from my backlog and then I’m caught up with reviews!!!
This is another book that I cannot remember the source of–I checked it out and then read it in pretty short order. Probably the last of the random reads, because the summer deluge of new releases is about to start…
And again, I was surprised by the depth of topics discussed in this book. I don’t think they were done quite as well as in Cool for the Summer but that’s partially because there are a lot more plot threads here, so it’s hard to keep attention on all of them. The main plot point, if I had to guess, is around Quinn’s attempts to discover who she is in a wealthy Texas suburb where she is the only child of two wealthy Black professionals (a lawyer and a judge) and one of the only Black students at a wealthy private school. The conceit that drives the plot is a notebook that she uses as a crutch/tool/outlet for her swirling emotions–things she hates, things she loves, guys she wants to make out with, lies she’s telling people around her. Said journal goes lost, and she pairs up with Carter, the last person to have it and one of the only other Black kids in the school, to find it and try and avoid her secrets becoming public by whomever has the journal.
Quinn…goes through a lot, in this relatively short book. She realizes she’s not cool with the casual and not-so-casual racism of her friends. She discovers the joy of having a friend group (or, really, a friend) who’s also Black (half) around whom she can be an authentic (more authentic?) version of herself. She finally addresses her family dynamic, which has gotten toxic and unhealthy. She realizes she’s really into Cartner, not her friend Matt, in a plot line that’s less engaging than you think given that the blurb reads like a typical YA romance.
The parts about taking a misplaced pride in being an Oreo (or coconut, or banana) in particular resonated with me–I didn’t start with as much internalized racism as Quinn, but I definitely wore my coconut-ness as a badge of honor for a bit before realizing it wasn’t a positive thing per se. I really enjoyed Quinn’s blossoming and taking control of her identity, trying on new facets of it to see what worked and what didn’t work for her. I wish there was a way to cut down on some of the other points (the entire Matt subsets, because he was a damp washcloth of a character) so as to give more time to flesh out the end. Everything non-romance related felt like it got the short stick towards the latter part.
