Welcome to Litsy!

I gravitate toward fictional telling of current issues because I can allow myself to know the characters without my hard-held emotions of an actual event. Here, a clearly innocent Black teenager was shot/killed by police. However, I went in expecting to feel emotionally opened and raw by book‘s end, but I didn‘t. When the story could/should have delved deeper, and the ending was just too tidy for the subject matter.

🌟🌟🌟I feel the subject matter for this was lightly handled. The subject of police shootings of black men is way more complex than this. The tidy ending between the friendship of Jen (white) and Riley (black) I feel would@have been more deeply wounded in the real world. Having been around these conversations with both black people and with cops, I feel my exposure may have allowed me to see that the realities are way deeper.

Enjoyed reading. It was an easy to pick up and put down. Felt rushed at the end.

#BookReport 21/23

A good reading week. This week‘s favorite must be The Bandit Queens!

Two friends, one black one white, explore the complexities of their friendship and social injustice after a black boy was killed by the police. Written by a black and a white author I was very interested in how they would tackle these subjects. The result fell short to me, to be honest. The book checked off all the points of a “how not to be racist” list but it lacked depth and authenticity. Their friendship felt a bit unreal and immature. ⬇️

Bags are packed ✔️
Airplane book chosen ✔️
Auto-reply is on ✔️

Any guesses where I'm headed with an outfit like this? 🤔

More #Bookmail!! I‘ve heard great things about this one!! Have you read it? 🧡📚

#LitsyLove
#LitsyLoveReads

I didn‘t know what to expect about but after I read the novel and read different interviews with the authors I understood better the importance of this topic. How these two friends, one white and one Black face a difficult, hard moment when one of them husband, a police officer, killed a Black kid😢Wow, so many feelings, emotions, they were best friends since childhood. Authors said they conducted various interviews to write the novel⬇️

Another rock solid #AuldLangSpine suggestion from @BarkingMadRead

Beautiful piece of contemporary fiction. I can‘t even describe what a journey this book was. You feel it in your core on so many levels. It is a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, heartfelt, roller coaster of a novel that is beautifully written.

Beautifully written novel about two best friends. One is a black woman and the other a white woman. The white woman is married to a police officer and he is involved with the shooting of an unarmed 14 year old black boy.

Although I wasn‘t really in the mood to read this, I‘m glad I did. The authors presented interesting perspectives on the police killing of an unarmed black boy through the eyes of two best friends. One a Black news reporter covering the story and the other, the white wife of one of the officers involved in the shooting. #audiobook #Blitsy

This was a good book. I read it for my book club. Two lifelong friends, one white and one black, find themselves in a situation where the white woman‘s husband, who is a policeman, is accused of killing an unarmed black teenager. The black woman is a reporter who is covering the story. The story is told from their alternating viewpoints. The story is pulled from today‘s headlines and provided much discussion at our book club meeting.

They kept calling me angry and power hungry. As if that's an insult! Hell yes, I'm angry! Yes, I'm power hungry! That's supposed to be a bad thing?....If I were a man, they'd be celebrating me for that. That's why my philosophy is WWWMD?

What would a white man do?

Two childhood interracial friends Riley and Jen who face a test of friendship and also explores both of their personal journeys This powerful,moving and relatable story brings attention to such important issues racism,biases,police brutality.this book demands everyones attention,how sad these conversations still need to be had but they do and are still so important!
I reached my goal for #marvellousmay

Time to decompress…it‘s been one of those days! 3 more days until spring break!! Am I the only one whose bookshelves look a mess right now? 😩

01. We Are Not Like Them; Harlem Shuffle
02. Library holds, for the most part
03. Nine Perfect Strangers

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4✨ Whew that was deep. Basically about a white cop, and a black unarmed 14 year old boy who was shot. There is so much layering since these are not even the main characters. The content was heavy and the writing was expertly crafted to bring all the emotions to the surface. #OnceUponaBookClub

This #onceuponabookclub read is deep! That first gift got me in the feels and I had to stop for the night. 😭💔

Finished this on Dec. 23rd. I‘ve heard the criticism that this book‘s intended audience is for white women in book clubs & I can see where that is accurate. Definitely a hot topic for a book: a friendship between a white (Jen) & black woman (Riley) is put to the test when Jen‘s husband is a cop who is charged w/the murder of an unarmed black teen. The story alternates between Jen & Riley.I found the ending to be too neat for this complex a topic.

Beautifully written book about a friendship between two women (with different opinions) who need to navigate through complex issues

This was a very deep book about how two best friends are affected -incredibly different- from the same social justice event. In all of it. The alternating narrative does wonders showing the inner turmoil of both. I could feel each women‘s trouble with handling it, and each other. They never talked about race growing up. What hit hardest was that Jen grew up color blind, like myself, so she doesn‘t really understand. End was quick; felt real
#ouabc

This is so heavy it‘s difficult to read. But that‘s exactly why it needs to be read. This book is right on with how I hear people talk and react in real life situations. It‘s all here, on both sides. Which is what I think the best part about this story so far. That you‘re really getting both sides anguish. White wife of cop who shot the kid, and black news reporter. We‘ll have to see how their friendship fares in it all.
#onceuponabookclub #ouabc

This is a very heavy sounding book for coming into the holiday season. Two women, best friends from childhood, one white one black, finds themselves at odds. That bond is tested when the one woman‘s cop husband is caught up in the shooting of an unarmed black teen. So this story capitulates both woman‘s future in to the air. It sounds like a conversation on race, which neither had growing up. Sounds like a fair “today” book
#ouabc

This is a powerful story about the friendship of two women, one black and one white. When the white woman's cop husband is involved in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager and the black woman is assigned to the story as a reporter - the friendship is tested. It is a wonderful read and one that I really enjoyed. I gave it 4.5/5.

I enjoyed this but it did have a couple of issues. Trying to portray both sides of the issue (shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman) actually diminished the message, as did the fact that the case didn‘t reach trial.

THUG did it better, but I still preferred this to Such a Fun Age, which to me was incredibly clumsy and didactic; this was less so, but was still a bit forced.

3.5 stars

A compelling read but a little forced, lacks subtly. Seems to be written in order to have a reaction but that‘s not a bad thing. A bit too much in the vein of Jodi Picoult 🙄Two childhood friends are forced to confront race and social justice when an unarmed black boy is shot by a white police officer. A story that grabs you from the opening pages. Told from each friend‘s POV. Great narration.

I totally get what @TrishB said the other day. This book was written with every intention of raising talking points - and I think we both agree, that‘s perfectly fine. I‘m enjoying audio but it does tend to feel a little relentless. Starting to drag in parts but still very compelling.

I am still processing everything in this book. Many, many things to discuss. I‘ve always thought we can never change anything without dialogue. This doesn‘t underestimate how difficult this can be and how we shy away from it when it makes us uncomfortable.
This books throws the stereotypes on the table and says come on then- let‘s talk about it.

Excuse me!!?? In the book I brought from Waterstones yesterday.

Today‘s book haul ♥️
Top one is my daughters- but we both liked the look of it so will definitely swap.