Book 15 of 2023
A Summary
Sydney Green is a black woman who is up to her ears in the nonsense of life. She has come home to live with her mother in the neighbourhood that she grew up in. Her neighbourhood was always a place full of community, culture, and friendly faces found in neighbours and businesses. But all of that is changing. From the time she returns gentrification is happening to her neighbourhood and everything is changing. Neighbours she has spent her life with have packed and moved overnight to the subburbs selling their homes to newcomers. Theo is one of those newcomers that have bought and purchased a home in the neighbourhood who is also getting buried in the nonsense of life. Having attended a neighbourhood history walk he encounters Sydney. With a passion project of informing people of the real history of her neighbourhood Sydney is planning her own neighbourhood history walk. Theo and Sydney become wary friends with not a lot of trust between them but they discover they only have each other when the paranoia, history, and secrets begin to reveal themselves. This book is a thriller with a lot of historical overtones. There is notion created by the author that maybe we should be asking questions of our own gentrification movements in our cities and countries. Why is it happening and where really are all the people going? Is there a repeat of history occurring?
Thoughts and Review
I listened to the audiobook version of this book which features the voice talents of Susan Dalian and Jay Aaseng. At first I was a little unsure when the novel began with two different narrations of Sydney and Theo. I am often not a fan of the alternating chapters of voices. But I am glad that I stuck with it. This thriller unfolds while revealing history of the city of New York. Through Sydney and Theo we get to see events and moments of history through two different perspectives. It brought a different take on gentrification that we can take into mind when looking at the neighbourhood “revitalizations” in our own locations. There is history living beneath every street and neighbourhood around us that deserves some recognition. This book with it’s two perspectives can be the symbolism we are looking for to remind us that our perception of the world around us is not the only one that is valid. We can all shift our perspective and learn/grow just as Theo did. Although the story starts slow it gradually builds up in intensity with each chapter. Make sure you carve out the time nearing the end of the book to read/listen because it flies by! If you are listening to the audiobook like I did each chapter ended in a way that you looked forward to finding out what happens next. A lesson to take from this story is to be cautious about what we know or what is on the surface of a situation; there is so much more beneath the surface. Well worth the read!
Recommendation
If you are not a fan of alternating or multiple narratives this is not the book for you. I imagine you could find it irritating especially when the odd chapter arrives and it is not the character you were expecting to be speaking. If you are a fan of history and the revealing of history this could be the book for you. All in all the book is exciting but has a very slow build up as the scene (or rather neighbourhood) is laid out for the reader. There are many questions left unanswered but there is the possibility of doing your own research or learning about the topics that are covered within the pages. The last half of the book takes the thriller genre title seriously as the story takes a more sinister vibe.