i was recommended this book after reading “little fires everywhere” by the same author, so i definitely think that my review and rating are influenced by the fact that i read that book first before reading this one. i’ll abbreviate this book as EINTY and “little fires everywhere” as LFE in this review.

first off, i enjoyed reading EINTY more than LFE despite EINTY being the worse book imo, which is an odd place to be in. both are incredibly hamfisted in their themes and morals, but the prose in EINTY is more unwieldy and unrefined compared to LFE. EINTY is also much more obvious from the very beginning of the book whereas LFE only became obvious in the second half. 

however, EINTY was more emotionally compelling for me. the main cast had bigger, critical roles to play compared to the mishmash LFE presented me with. james’s struggle with his internalized racism, marilyn and her crushed dreams, lydia becoming the golden child and turning her siblings into “glass” children by default, they were all more interesting to me than the richardson family in LFE. 

admittedly, if i read EINTY and then LFE, i probably would’ve rated LFE higher, but as it stands right now, i was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed reading this.