Title: You're Breaking My Heart [on Amazon | on Goodreads]Series: None
Author: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovic [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Urban Fantasy/Portal Fantasy, Multiverse
Year: 2024
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Wild, imaginative, at times poetical journey into a teen's grief and sense of guilt. Ode to family and friendship.
Cons: A little confusing at times. Might pose some problems to readers who need all the answers.
WARNING! Death by gun/school shooting (off-page). Near-drowning.
Will appeal to: Those who like a snarky, yet vulnerable lead. Those who enjoy coming-of-age stories with grief as a catalyst set on a fantastic backdrop.
Blurb: Harriet Adu knows that her brother's death is her fault. I mean, it's not actually her fault, but it still kinda is, isn't it? She would do anything to live in a world where she could take back what she said that morning. Then a strange girl shows up at Harriet's high school – a girl who loves the same weird books Harriet does, who doesn't vibe with anyone at school the same way Harriet does – and that different world suddenly seems possible. The girl speaks of a place underneath the subways of New York, where people like them can go and find a home. A place away from the world of high school, grief, cool people, and depression. A place where one may be able to bend the lines of reality and get a second chance at being a better person. Will Harriet open the door? (Amazon)
Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Levine Querido (Chronicle Books) for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
MAKING WEAVES
First off - I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Not only it successfully merges different genres (coming of age, magical realism, portal fantasy, multiverse) by way of regular narrative and experimental devices (see the late chapter that reads like a sitcom, not to mention the switch from 3rd person to 1st person in Ch.11), but it manages to tell a heartfelt, insightful story about grief and regret and facing your demons.
Harriet is a self-deprecating, acerbic Black teen living in New York, who's gradually distanced herself from her older brother Tunde, their cousin Nikka and their friend Luke, until Tunde dies in a school shooting on the very day she ended one of their arguments with "I wish you were dead". Nine months after, now enrolled in the same school Nikka attends and suffering from serious Tragic New Girl syndrome, almost-15 Harriet still blames herself for her brother's death, and would do anything to take those words back. Rhuday-Perkovic looks compassionately (yet humorously) at family and school conflicts, as well as internal ones, only to move the latter on the backdrop of a fever-dream scenario (think Alice in Wonderland, but with a deeper, more cohesive and more straightforward meaning) that promises confort if you're willing to pay a price, and that ultimately forces Harriet to make a choice. [...]
UNEXPECTED ROUTE
While I expected Harriet's Blackness and the shooting in which her brother died to be on the forefront, the book surprised me again in that respect. We get very little information about Tunde's death (which in hindsight makes sense, because this isn't the story Rhuday-Perkovic wants to tell), and though Harriet's heritage permeates the narrative in so many ways - from food to songs to lore - it isn't the focal point of the book either. Speaking of heritage, I have to admit I found her family's backstory confusing - apparently, they aren't Nigerian (or don't know if they are?), but do their best to "tether [themselves] to 'the Motherland'", and her father took on a fake identity for that purpose, which is never explained nor elaborated upon. I also got confused about Harriet's mother's role in the adventure that she, Nikka and Luke undertake - it does sound like she knows what she's doing (at least on a level) when she performs a certain act before the kids go in search of Tunde, but I wasn't able to connect the dots like the author seems to expect us to. Regardless, I really enjoyed this story both on a realistic and a fantastic level, and as I said above, I found the two of them to balance out perfectly. Original, compassionate and rooted in African-American lore, yet very accessible, with realistic teen characters and complex relationships, You're Breaking My Heart is a little gem you should not miss.
For more books that defy categories click here.
School shootings are hard to read about. There was a shooting at my daughter's school that started at a convenience store down the block back when she was in high school. Scariest thing ever.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you both had to experience that - it must have been terrifying. I hope everyone involved made it. As for the book, as I said, the actual shooting remained in the background, thank goodness.
DeleteThat's good that it remained in the background. Yeah everyone made it out. One kid got shot in the ankle but was fine.
DeleteThat was close...😱
DeleteI'm glad somebody's reviewing lol!
ReplyDeleteThe bit about the subways under NY put me in mind of the Morlocks from X- Men, which is a concept I always loved. The POV switch is interesting too- sometimes those work when done well.
"I'm glad somebody's reviewing lol!"
DeleteShhh! I have 7 ARCs to read and 8 to review at the moment...and no time or willpower 😱.
Not a POV switch, to be precise, but a perspective switch from the same character. It worked so well that I didn't even noticed it at first! 😂
You know, your comment got me thinking! I went back to 2018 and looked and I did post sometimes twice a day, but also it just reminds me how vibrant the community used to be. I got 21 comments on a Bookcover Spotlight post! And 50 some on a Waiting on Wednesday. Granted, I blog hopped a lot too, so you get tat comment for comment thing, but dang...
DeleteWe are a smaller lot now, but even when/if some of us post less than they used to (because our lives have become hectic...or because we're old 😅), we are more committed!
DeleteWell, your first paragraph made me cry. That poor girl! The guilt!
ReplyDeleteYep, but at least the ending was heartwarming...
DeleteI would never know this had fantastical elements just by looking at the cover. This does sound good, despite some of the confusion you had. Thanks for sharing, Roberta!
ReplyDeleteI looked into it because of the "siblings" label - I love books about sisters and brothers - and found out it had fantastical elements, but yeah...the cover doesn't give that away...though there's a particularly creepy scene that takes place in a pool, so it makes a lot of sense for that image to be on the cover.
DeleteI do like realistic, it has to make you feel
ReplyDeleteI love "out of this world" books that manage to be realistic in how they portray feelings and relationships.
DeleteWonderful review! I am in the process of writing mine now, and I think I feel largely the same. Well- I liked the story of Harriet trying to find herself, and her growth was wonderful. The heavy fantasy part wasn't really my favorite, but I did enjoy the sitcom-like bit, that was a nice change of tone, since it is a more emotional book. I was also a bit confused about their heritage, you make a good point. I just rolled with it, but I agree!
ReplyDeleteI was expecting a fantasy part, to be honest - counting on it, to be EVEN more honest 😂. It was weird, but I like weird. I understand your point though. Looking forward to your full review now!
DeleteI've heard a lot of good things about this book, including your review here. These types of books are always so hard to read because school shootings is such a "normal" in the US. I wish it weren't the case, but it's the truth. I'm glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteThe school shooting (and mall shooting, and whatever-place shooting) situation is terrible, and yet so "normal", as you said. It seems like everyone has been affected by it personally at some point, or knows someone who was...At least this particular book doesn't delve into the topic, but just uses it as a starting point, so to speak - or I'm not sure I would have had the stomach to read it...
Delete