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A review by eloise_bradbooks
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
4.0
Maddy's father has convinced her she needs to pass as white if she wants to live "a normal life". At school, she's lived in fear, been bullied from the beginning. When an incident forces her to reveal to the school that she is, in fact, biracial, all hell breaks loose.
I really appreciated how this story was in fact multiple people's stories all tangled up in one. We followed not only the bullied Maddy who starts to find her voice, but also the racist mean girls, the sweet black quarterback player requestioning everything, and the ones who see but do nothing and how that can also affect them.
It's a horrific story of racism, coming-of-age, mystery and love, with a touch of paranormal.
Though the paranormal only takes up a tiny bit of space in this story, I appreciated that. We focused more on the characters, their relationships and their growth.
We also follow a sort of radio/podcast of people, years later, trying to figure out what actually happened the night everyone last saw Maddy.
As much as this part could have added a whole new level to the story, I felt like it could have been handled a little differently, if not to say it wasn't needed at all. Having these people we know nothing about and really don't care about, talk about characters we actually do appreciate, and having them tell us from the get go how everything is going to end... kinda takes away from the frightful ending we get.
I exepected something in this podcast to shock me, to bring a new meaning to the story. But I didn't get that. All i felt it did was explain to the readers things we already got from the story itself: racism.
But maybe I missed something?
All this to say, I really appreciated this story, loved most of the reading experience, felt connected to most of the characters (most importantly to the flawed ones), but ended up being a tad disappointed when it ended and there wasn't that little spark that made me say "OH".
Disclaimer: I know NOTHING about King's Carrie (don't look surprised, I'm new to horror), so I have no idea how this book relates to it or not, and how that may affect anyone's reading experience.
I really appreciated how this story was in fact multiple people's stories all tangled up in one. We followed not only the bullied Maddy who starts to find her voice, but also the racist mean girls, the sweet black quarterback player requestioning everything, and the ones who see but do nothing and how that can also affect them.
It's a horrific story of racism, coming-of-age, mystery and love, with a touch of paranormal.
Though the paranormal only takes up a tiny bit of space in this story, I appreciated that. We focused more on the characters, their relationships and their growth.
We also follow a sort of radio/podcast of people, years later, trying to figure out what actually happened the night everyone last saw Maddy.
As much as this part could have added a whole new level to the story, I felt like it could have been handled a little differently, if not to say it wasn't needed at all. Having these people we know nothing about and really don't care about, talk about characters we actually do appreciate, and having them tell us from the get go how everything is going to end... kinda takes away from the frightful ending we get.
I exepected something in this podcast to shock me, to bring a new meaning to the story. But I didn't get that. All i felt it did was explain to the readers things we already got from the story itself: racism.
But maybe I missed something?
All this to say, I really appreciated this story, loved most of the reading experience, felt connected to most of the characters (most importantly to the flawed ones), but ended up being a tad disappointed when it ended and there wasn't that little spark that made me say "OH".
Disclaimer: I know NOTHING about King's Carrie (don't look surprised, I'm new to horror), so I have no idea how this book relates to it or not, and how that may affect anyone's reading experience.