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I’ve been trying to decide how to say this all day because I don’t want to hurt feelings but I’m also really troubled.
White book reviewers, please gather and read.
White book reviewers, please gather and read.
When you decide to read a book that is outside of your marginalization, outside of your experience or culture or race or sexuality, you do not get to put YOUR expectations (which are shaped by your reality) onto a book that was not written for you.
I read a book review today (Black author and characters, white reviewer) and the gist of the review was that they didn’t like that the characters weren’t nice to each other... and I was stunned.
Why do white girls get to be mean girls and compete and be nasty to each other in books but Black girls have to play nice and get along? Why do Black and Brown and Indigenous girls not get to be mean and petty without being called unlikable?
And it made me think about how many reviews I saw of Trail of Lightning where people said Maggie was unlikable when he whole arc is about survival but yet they love Lila Bard. They love Feyre. They love cutthroat white girls but the Indigenous girl is... unlikable.
When you decide to read a book that wasn’t written for you, I think you should be very careful how you speak about it. I think you should consider that not everything needs your opinion or needs to be seen through a white lense.
There is a wildly successful author on here and I can’t stand them or their books, but I keep that to myself because they aren’t writing for me. My opinion is not needed. And anything I would have to offer in a review would do harm instead of good.
If you’re going to review a book that wasn’t written for you, consider a few things first
1. Is my opinion needed?
2. Is the thing I don’t like actually harmful, or just not what I was expecting?
3 Is there anyone else who shares my opinion AND is who this book was written for?
1. Is my opinion needed?
2. Is the thing I don’t like actually harmful, or just not what I was expecting?
3 Is there anyone else who shares my opinion AND is who this book was written for?
And last, let marginalized characters be multi-dimensional. Let them be mean and snotty and rude and hateful. Let them be sweet and kind and funny. Let them be a mix of all of things.
