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A review by gabsalott13
Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
What an underwhelming follow-up/prequel to Pet (which I mostly loved!) Bitter is a coming-of-age story that features Jam's parents amidst the backdrop of Lucille's revolutionary period. While this sounded promising, Emezi abandoned the detailed yet subtle worldbuilding that made the Lucille of their first book in this series so enjoyable.
In its place, they've delivered a bible-thumping, derivative drudge of a book that forges ahead with its plot with little respect for its characters. I think Emezi miscalculated where the brilliance of Pet was—not in the utopian renderings of Lucille, which anyone could have come up with, but the skillful construction of youth who were truly innocent enough to have lived this other world. In Bitter, the young people are plot devices that you barely get to know before they're placed in otherworldly situations. I dare say that the scene in Pet where Redemption's family is in the kitchen and their parent is peeling the fruit has more characterization than the entirety of this book.
My other gripe is that if Emezi was going to blow by the real-life characters, I would have at least appreciated a better explanation of Bitter's magical realism elements. Those of y'all who were with me since the Goodreads days know I don't have the range for the supernatural, but at least in Pet these components were measured enough to be tolerable. Here, the angels are so hastily depicted that I never was disarmed by them, which of course makes the terrible "twist" of their true powers much less shocking than it was in Pet.
For so long, I feel like everyone has watched in wonder as Akwaeke Emezi has been a book-producing machine!! Unfortunately this time, I feel like quantity has finally caught up with them, in exchange for quality. Bitter feels churned out of an "I spent summer 2020 on Twitter" assembly line, no longer as original and arresting as their earlier work that so many of us came to love.
Final note: Unlike Pet, Bitter is textbook YA, which means my criticisms probably are irrelevant to the target audience. Slowly but surely, I am trying to break the chains of 20-something lesbians reading books made for teenagers, so I will stop my complaining here and go read something written for people my age.
In its place, they've delivered a bible-thumping, derivative drudge of a book that forges ahead with its plot with little respect for its characters. I think Emezi miscalculated where the brilliance of Pet was—not in the utopian renderings of Lucille, which anyone could have come up with, but the skillful construction of youth who were truly innocent enough to have lived this other world. In Bitter, the young people are plot devices that you barely get to know before they're placed in otherworldly situations. I dare say that the scene in Pet where Redemption's family is in the kitchen and their parent is peeling the fruit has more characterization than the entirety of this book.
My other gripe is that if Emezi was going to blow by the real-life characters, I would have at least appreciated a better explanation of Bitter's magical realism elements. Those of y'all who were with me since the Goodreads days know I don't have the range for the supernatural, but at least in Pet these components were measured enough to be tolerable. Here, the angels are so hastily depicted that I never was disarmed by them, which of course makes the terrible "twist" of their true powers much less shocking than it was in Pet.
For so long, I feel like everyone has watched in wonder as Akwaeke Emezi has been a book-producing machine!! Unfortunately this time, I feel like quantity has finally caught up with them, in exchange for quality. Bitter feels churned out of an "I spent summer 2020 on Twitter" assembly line, no longer as original and arresting as their earlier work that so many of us came to love.
Final note: Unlike Pet, Bitter is textbook YA, which means my criticisms probably are irrelevant to the target audience. Slowly but surely, I am trying to break the chains of 20-something lesbians reading books made for teenagers, so I will stop my complaining here and go read something written for people my age.