Some Books about/by POC
Guardian, Julius Lester
Okay, so, first of all? This book is about a lynching. You need to know that right off the bat. The second thing you need to know is that it's about a white boy's experience of a lynching.
Specifically, it's about Ansel Anderson, who has to watch as his black friend Little Willie's father is lynched for a rape and murder committed by Zeph Davis III, grandson of the town's founder. Worse, Ansel and his father know that Big Willie saw the crime committed, and they saw the immediate aftermath.
That's the core of the book, but the emotional arc belongs to Ansel. There's a complicated series of reasons as to why he's sympathetic to black people to begin with, but it is perfectly believable, and so is Little Willie's reaction to everything: there's actually a part I loved after the lynching where Ansel runs to Willie to apologize, and then stops, because he knows that he can't ask forgiveness of Willie, not after what happened.
It's a really good book. If it has a flaw, the ending is too abrupt; there's a lot of buildup and character development before the lynching, and then after it's like ten pages to the end. Still, it's a fast read, but one you won't soon forget.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth. Do I even need to explain why?
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu
This was amazing?? omg this was amazing.
Ahem. The Paper Menagerie was a book club selection that I am actually reviewing within about a week of finishing it, go me! But aaahhhh it's so great, guys. It's a collection of about fifteen short stories-- more if you include the preface, which I and my book club both think you should-- that are mostly about cultural collision and the process of, or failure of, translation. It's mostly about Chinese and American cultural collision, but there's others in there too, including the actual short story Paper Menagerie, which won a buttload (technical term) of awards and deserved all of them.
It isn't my favorite story in this anthology, though, which should tell you how amazing it is. My favorite is probably The Literomancer, about a Taiwanese man who reads fortunes in words. Or maybe The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species, which is about memories and stories and books and transmission. Or The Waves, about what it means to be human. Or The Litigation Master and the Monkey King, which is a comedy until it's not, and is about the power of stories and the strength to do what's right. Or All the Flavors, which must be read to be believed. Or really all of them. Can I say all of them? Look just go read this okay.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth. I'm reasonably sure that the only white protagonists are also little girls. Everyone else is a POC. And just. Fuck. It's so good, guys. SO GOOD.
Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson
I devoured this book until literally the last three pages, at which point I got mad, and I can't even tell you why because it's a major spoiler. But anyway.
Mary B. Addison allegedly killed a baby. Allegedly. She never admitted it, but a baby (white) died while her mother (black) was babysitting, and Mary was the one everyone blamed. That was seven years ago. Now, at sixteen, Mary is in a group home and volunteering at a group home, where she meets Ted. Ted is the first person to really believe in her and love her. He believes she can take the SATs and go to college, so she works on that. He believes that they can get married and take care of their baby together, so Mary works to make that happen. To keep Ted and her baby, she'll have to tell what really happened to the baby, and what her mother is really like, and who, and what, Mary Addison really is.
Sounds great, right? It is. It's tautly and suspensefully written, with a believable cast of characters and painful realities coming back from the past. It ate me not once, not twice, but three times, to the point that I actually ended up coming back from my break about seven minutes late (fortunately I work in a library and they get it). It's really good! AND THEN THE END. I THINK THIS BOOK HAS ENOUGH TWISTS. OH MY GOD. Suffice to say the twist completely ruined it for me. I'm just. So mad.
Fuck Fascists Factor: 5--fascists will froth at the mouth. The injustices of the justice system, sympathetic black characters, and people working (and succeeding!) at bettering their life. They'll hate it.
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