Narrated by: Emana Rachelle, Ozzie Jacobs, Elena Rey, Mahogany L. Browne, Amir Royale, Nile Bullock, Andrea Emmes, Brandon Miles, Kiebpoli Calnek, Ali Nasser, Tyla Collier, Marie-Francoise, Ron Butler, Chantelle Ramdeen
Release Date: March 11, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: April 14-15, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Pandemic/Epidemic
For Readers Interested In: Novels in Verse, Coming of Age, Poetry, YAIn this poignant mixed voice, mixed form collection of interconnected prose, poems and stories, teen characters, their families, and their communities grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst fear and loss, these New York City teens prevail with love, resilience and hope. From the award-winning author of Chlorine Sky and Vinyl Moon.
,, Grief, pain, hope, and love collide in this short story collection.In New York City, teens, their families, and their communities feel the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the fear and loss, these teens and the adults around them persevere with love and hope while living in difficult
Malachi writes an Armageddon short story inspired by his pandemic reality.Tariq helps their ailing grandmother survive during quarantine.Zamira struggles with depression and loneliness after losing her parents.Mohamed tries to help keep his community spirit alive.A social worker reflects on the ways the foster system fails their children.
From award-winning author Mahogany L. Browne comes a poignant collection of interconnected prose, poems, and lists about the humanity and resilience of New Yorkers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was a book that was so far out of my comfort zone it almost wrapped back around lol I do NOT like books about COVID usually, but this one was so different and I had to at least try it And let me tell you, it was everything I wanted it to be.
Ok so I LOVED the differnet POVs and the ways they were all so different. And I also loved how these were all perspectives that I hadn’t even thought of. This was such a unique way to tell this story. It’s also really cool because this was SO realistic. All these stories very well could have been real. I think that’s a testament too to Browne’s writing style. Definitely gave realness that even I had to remind myself that all of these were fictional stories.
This did drag in a couple places for me tho. Like I enjoyed them all because of how they came together, but sometimes the POV wasn’t exactly entertaining. But that’s the like issue with all books that have more than one POV. But it also was a little hard to tie them altogether. I was writing them down, but the breakdown is actually on Libby when you check it out. This is hilarious because i had no idea it was going to do it.
This was a lot of fun! Not my usual book, so I appreciated that Browne made tthis so good. I hope there’s more like this to come. Whether it’s a novel in verse or prose. I hope we get more soon!
Overall, I give this
