Children of Virtue and Vengeance - Tomi Adeyemi

The follow up the the stunning Children of Blood and Bone does not let up. In this sequel, we find Zelie and Amari dealing with the aftermath of bringing magic back to Orisha. During the ritual, Zelie's love for her father and her reliance on her blood to complete the ritual has created semi-magical people who are not Magi.

In Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Zelie must fight against Amari's mother who was gifted with magic during the ritual. Her racist hatred against the Magi is now fueled and channeled through her own powerful magic. She attacks the Magi relentlessly and pulls Zelie into a trap. In her fight against her mother, Amari finds that the quest for the throne and for power has corrupted her.

How will Orisha survive when all who quest for the throne are corrupted and a source of what is rotten in the kingdom? Apparently we find out in the third book because there is going to be another one! I didn't know that when I was reading this so the ending or rather, not-ending, was a complete surprise!

Once again the writing is fantastic and the story moves. You have to question the motives of even your favorite characters. No one is unscathed. I love the moral ambiguity that is thrown into every encounter. Very excited to see this transferred to the screen.

4/5 Stars. 

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

A few things about me. I'm a Libra. I like balance. I like when everyone gets along. I want people in love to stay in love. I want people who fall out of love to consciously uncouple. I like to pick sides. I like when the side I pick is right and honest and fair. I like to root for someone. I want the person I root for to be worthy or principled. So in comes this book and it made me deeply uncomfortable because I couldn't fall into the patterns I like.

Roy and Celestial are married. They had a rocky romance and have had a rocky first year of marriage. On their anniversary, they visit a local hotel where Roy's mother worked when she was pregnant with Roy. He intends to tell Celestial that his father, Big Roy, is his father in love and name, but not in blood. And Celestial, who is feeling out of place with Roy's intense mother, is not having it. So they get in a fight. And then they make up. But when another guest at the hotel is raped, Roy is blamed and gets sentenced to jail.

The next few chapters are told through letters back and forth between Celestial and Roy, in which we see their marriage start to break down under the strain of their circumstance. By the time Roy's mother dies, Celestial is certain she doesn't want to be an inmate's wife anymore, and her childhood friend, Andre, becomes more than a friend. When Celestial tells Roy she can no longer be his wife, Roy gives her the cold shoulder.

Two years later, Celestial's wealthy parents have continued to fund Roy's appeals which are successful and Roy is released from prison. Having not spoken to Celestial in two years, he doesn't know where their marriage stands. Boo Celestial, she's left him behind and moved on with the next warm man, not staying true to her husband even though he encouraged and inspired the work that has made her so successful. I'm team Roy all the way at this point. Until.... dammit Roy, he gets released and spends two days in the bed of a local woman. THEN he goes to his wife.

And while he's driving to Celestial, we learn that he wasn't faithful to her during their first year of marriage. Well NOW I'm team Celestial because Roy is a dog. And Andre... well I see him as a usurper, until he asks, "Don't I deserve to be happy?" You know, people asking honest questions is hard to fight. So now we have a very messy triangle, which is not a triangle at all but a circle of Celestial and Andre with Roy on the outside. I do feel bad for Roy. His entire life has been thrown off track and messed up. And for what?

Ultimately the book asks big questions about how we move on and make something of our circumstances, as unfair as they are, and what we do with the expectations of the older generations. There is enough unfairness to go around in this book that everyone gets sprinkled. I thought it was well written and I listened to the audio and I really enjoyed the narrators.

4/5 Stars. 

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

As I sat here, thinking about how to convey my feelings and heartbreak over reading The Bluest Eye, my phone notification tells me that Toni Morrison, Novel Laureate and Pulitizer Prize winner has died at age 88. Her long life was a gift to literature and to arts. That her death comes after two days of media coverage surrounding back to back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton makes a kind of literary sense in that Toni Morrison was ever a critic of our culture and the often banal cruelty inflicted on minorities, women, and children. 

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison set out to detail and chronicle the destruction of innocence in the literal break down of Pecola, a twelve year old girl who, by the end of the novel, has suffered cruelties minor and grievous resulting in her complete psychotic break. And the language Morrison uses to describe this degradation, its smooth flow and lyrical beauty can make you forget that you are reading something abjectly terrible. And it is, abjectly terrible, and difficult to read, and yet, Morrison pulls no punches. She wants you to be aware of the ways in which humans are capable of destroying other humans. 

“Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.” 
― Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

When you pick up a Toni Morrison novel you better be ready for your heart to break in ways you didn't know existed. That the Bluest Eye was the first such novel in a series of ever sharpening craft, that she was actually disappointed in later years at her inability to create a more seamless piece of art, is a testament to the growth and skill she acquired as she toiled at this work. 

And Morrison was ever sure of herself and the place in the literary universe where her novels lived. I once saw a interview an Australian morning show did with her where the journalist asked Toni if she would ever consider writing books about white characters. Toni looked this woman dead in the eye for an uncomfortable amount of silence for TV purposes and asked if the journalist had any idea how racist such a question was? 

That such a voice has left the literary world is no question a loss, but we can be grateful for the body of work she leaves behind.

4/5 Stars.

Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay

Before picking up Bad Feminist, I had seen Roxane Gay in a few TV interviews in passing. She's always struck me as a thoughtful analyst of issues. But now I know something else. She's FUNNY! This book was funny. There's an entire essay devoted to how awful the 50 Shades series is and it's hilarious. 

Part memoir, part op-ed type essays, Bad Feminist describes one woman's navigation of the complex world of feminism and all the trappings that go along with trying, or avoiding, declaring oneself as such. 

I'm was also reminded throughout this book why it is so important to make sure one is exposed to a variety of voices and narratives outside the echo chamber we create for ourselves within and without social media. Many more years ago than I realized had passed, I read The Help with my book club and attended an author talk about the book in Chicago. I remember being vaguely uncomfortable at the use of dialect in the book, written by a white woman, about black women in the Civil Rights Era South. But, for lots of reasons, I didn't recognize the very basis of the book as problematic. And then, overtime, I came to realize the deeply flawed foundation of the book. And Roxane Gay laid it all out in an essay on the topic in this book.

She also dove deep into her Scrabble talent. I didn't realize, but probably should have, that there were such things as competitive Scrabble tournaments. 

There were deeply heartbreaking stories mixed into the story that give a glimpse of the author and her early life's journey. Overall it was a very enjoyable 11 hours to spend in someone's company.

4/5 Stars.