Pros: Loved so many of the earlier stories, and the wrap-around threads at the end. I really appreciated how Evaristo handled the passage of time, and was impressed by the connections between the characters (instead of annoyed by the plot device-ness of them, like I've been in many other connected short story collections.)

Cons: I did run out of steam towards the last 100 pages, and could've done without some of the stories to the end, which I feel weren't handled quite as well. I also am wondering about how I'd feel about this book if I had more context for the real-life inspirations Evaristo is writing about. Would it still feel like "wow she traveled so many different sides of this world in such a short time?" Or would it feel more like how my friend Sam brilliantly articulated the problems with Morgan's story: "you can tell [the author] has never met a nonbinary person, but felt it was important to aDd ThEiR PeRsPeCtIvE." I've had this particular cringe/complaint of an author before, when reading All This Could be Yours . Sometimes, trying to write a novel about people you only know from NPR segments comes through as just that--and it is painful for readers more aware of the IRL versions.

For that reason, I'm going with this meme review that I recently saw on my feed--too good to pass up! But for the most part, I'm signing on to the hype around this book, and encouraging anyone else who didn't read it back in 2019/2020 to give it a chance. :)