Författarbild

Kimberly Jones (1)

Författare till I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

För andra författare vid namn Kimberly Jones, se särskiljningssidan.

3 verk 680 medlemmar 37 recensioner

Verk av Kimberly Jones

Taggad

Allmänna fakta

Medlemmar

Recensioner

I read this as part of OverDrive's Big Library Read event. It was very fast paced and definitely sucked me in, I'm not sure either character really left too enlightened though. I would have liked a continuation showing the aftermath of the night's events.
 
Flaggad
Linyarai | 31 andra recensioner | Mar 6, 2024 |
Came into this after watching her viral speech, and so, so glad I had the audiobook. Incredible voice, narrator, and heart.
 
Flaggad
hannerwell | 3 andra recensioner | Feb 24, 2024 |
This is a tough one to rate. The voice and narration in this are absolutely stellar, and characters like Lena are so very uncommon and valuable in the YA cannon right now. But other than that, I found myself unable to suspend disbelief and get absorbed in the story. Ultimately, is it worth the read though? I think so.

A few minimal spoilers ahead.

My biggest problem here was that all the events felt so random and I wanted more context and explanation instead of the constant moving away. This revolves mainly around riots that come out of protests, but starts off with a big fight at the girls' high school. I wanted more details on how this fight went down. I didn't buy that the teacher just forgot about them. I wanted more information on where everyone went--there was a whole football field of students that just...disappeared? Surely other kids were leaving in vehicles. Surely they could have at least asked for a ride.
And then these riots. Yes, yes yes yes. I have a lot of thoughts about rioting as a form of protest, and I really appreciated how they acknowledged in the book that it's one of very, very few ways to get attention and that though it might not seem fair, breaking and vandalizing is arguably necessary in order to get any attention to a cause while a peaceful protest is very easy to ignore. However, I found it hard to believe that all of the events of the night strung from a protest and weren't more preplanned. Generally, protests take place during the day because government officials aren't really in their offices on Friday nights. I could have believed this, but I needed a lot more context--maybe through these news reporters or through texts, or maybe Campbell might have checked Twitter or something--in order to suspend my disbelief.
So if one or the other had happened, I'd believe it more, or if there had been a clear connection drawn (a single line! to ackowledge it!) I might have believed it more but it just seems so very unlikely that these would both happen in one night. And I don't think that's my privilege talking.
And then the blurb--"chaos born from violence and hate"--completely dismisses the idea that protesters had anything to do with this. I just really wish that the authors had delved that little bit deeper in and really explored what the roots of all these horrors were.
And Lena and Campbell were both reasonably intelligent, it seemed. So I really struggled to believe that they would just keep moving into this warzone and not be like "well, guess I'm walking a couple of miles tonight!" Campbell had a phone--surely Lena knew other people she could have used social media to contact? I just don't buy it. Surely they would have walked in a different direction. Black had a car, yes, but there are other cars in Atlanta, and since it took them hours to walk to him, why not just walk home?

And setting! Campbell mentions once that they're in Atlanta but I actually had to go back and find that line. I've never been to Atlanta (two weeks until Shaky Knees!) so maybe if I were familiar with the area I'd get it more, but it felt so very insert-generic-city-here. (Also, Campbell's mom moves to Venezuela--what? for a job? what year was this written? why? if you're going to move someone to Venezuela for a job, you need a line about what her job is.)

But on the other hand, this book exCELS in capturing voice. Campbell was a character that could have been plucked from any generic YA book, but Lena felt like a real live black girl and I'm so glad that she used real slang in actual context and it felt very natural. They did an excellent job of observing inherent racism and prejudices that we all have whether we like it or not which is super important, especially to those of us who might not often think about it. The blurb and cover are a bit misleading as they pit the girls against each other when in reality they just didn't know each other outside of having a class together--neither was actively against the other despite their prejudices.

I'm glad Black turned out to be less of a radishweed, but I also wish Lena had stood up to him and put him in his place because wow did she deserve better.

BUT WHAT ABOUT MARCUS????????? DO WE JUST LEAVE HIM TO DIE???????? I was SO upset when I hit acknowledgements without hearing how he was after just being taken to hospital! (Which was also weird. That Lena would just trust that the police would take him to hospital? And not lock him up? After all of her understandable mistrust?


I guess I have a lot to say about this book because it had such potential and did some parts so well, but I feel like it almost got caught up in patting itself on the back about what it did right. I was wavering between 3 and 4 stars when I started writing this, but I think I'm actually at 2.5 now. There were just so many times where I thought "but why not just do this?" and couldn't suspend my disbelief.
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
whakaora | 31 andra recensioner | Mar 5, 2023 |
Overachieving and privileged high school seniors and cheerleaders, Eleanor (Jewish) and Chanel (African American), lead the radical choice to “take a knee” at the season’s first football game. This timely page-turner highlights the complexities of being woke and the role of Jews in the anti-racist movement. (Sydney Taylor Notable Young Adult)
 
Flaggad
STBA | Feb 4, 2023 |

Priser

Du skulle kanske också gilla

Associerade författare

Statistik

Verk
3
Medlemmar
680
Popularitet
#37,181
Betyg
3.8
Recensioner
37
ISBN
41
Språk
2

Tabeller & diagram