e-Audio, 08:24:39
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Release Date: October 3, 2023
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: October 1-2, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM (I received a copy of this audiobook from Libro FM and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review)
TW: Racism, Slavery, Confinement, Animal Death, Mental health, Death
For Readers Interested In: Novels in Verse, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Dystopia, Fantasy, Middle GradeAward-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, in this middle-grade novel that has been compared to the work of Jordan Peele and praised as ” brilliantly inventive storytelling” by Publishers Weekly.
In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined — to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue — the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often – he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too―she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room.
In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered.
In this symphony of a novel, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, and empowers readers to remember their voices and stories are important, especially when they feel the need to go wolf.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I know I start most of the novels in verse that I read the same damn way, but I always go back for more. And That’s what led me to this one. I am NOT about to sit here and say this book was bad, but it wasn’t great for me either because of the formatting and just how novels in verse are. But who’s fault is that? How do I review this? This might be a long one while I talk out my feelings lol
Ok so I liked the concept and what I thought it was doing. I thought it was one girl who was learning about the harsh truths about the world we live in. While she’s learning this, she’s learning about Black history, the current pandemic, and some other American history. Now there’s another girl, Inmate Eleven, but I thought she was the same person as Imogen. Looking at some reviews, I’m not the only one. (Which confuses me more because if I had trouble and so did some other adults I know, what will MG readers think???) It is told in two different time frames, which is why I was having trouble understanding. Because either way how is she getting in the car with MLK? If I said that weird and it doesn’t make sense…………… Well that’s because it doesn’t to me lol
And I know I’m probably not the target audience for novels in verse, but here we are. I just don’t care for how they tell a story, but it seems to be like bits and pieces of a story all the time. I do like those that are longer and can tell a full story with more details, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I think I finished this book more confused than i was when i started it. My mom was around while I was listening to it and she heard me and even she asked what I was listening to because it wasn’t making sense. I think if this had been actual prose I would have liked it more.
The reason I didn’t DNF this was because I did like the messaging. Her finding out the truth about Black history is of course what I liked the most. I will always boost anything that turns the truth about what happened to my people. And of course, the COVID side because there’s people out there that are still saying it’s not real. I will boost anything that has the message that this is a real thing that’s happening and people being on lockdown and everything that the US has been through was real.
This book was hella weird. I might come back and change my rating because I’m so indecisive on this book. Hell I’ve already changed it like 3 or 4 times. But because of this, I settled on this one which makes me feel pretty neutral and smack dab in the middle.
Overall, I give this
