By Tiffany D Jackson | Released September 6 2022
Should be called the weight of racism
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A modern retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie which explores the life of Maddie Washington who is secretly bi-racial and white passing after her true identity is exposed thanks to a little unexpected rain. This book covers themes of racism in its many forms, bullying, abuse and also powers (super and otherwise).
Grab Your Copy from Amazon here
Why I’ll Always have a YA Novel on My W2R/TBR
Before we go any further I recognize not everyone will understand the lingo. So, let me explain. a W2R is a “want to read” list and a TBR is a “to be read” list. While you might think these are the same and it’s true lots of people use them interchangeably -there is a difference. In my case, W2R books are books I want to read. It could be because I like the cover, they came with a great recommendation, the author is a favorite of mine but ultimately, they’re also books I’m not putting ahead of anything else or another book and likely won’t buy. Essentially, it means if it’s not at my library or gifted it’s likely not being read. My TBR list are books that I AM dropping money on. Books, that I want to display on my shelf, books I crave to hold in my hands and want to annotate but don’t have the heart to. Ones I say one day I’ll gift a friend to enjoy. Basically books I absolutely have to have or atleast have read the story.
Moving on..
YA novels will also be on my lists because they’re so easy to digest even and often unpredictable even with heavy plots. Following behind a teenagers train of thought is an adventure of itself, nothing is too far out of pocket. And The Weight of Blood is no different.
What I liked Most About This Book
The Weight of Blood was very enjoyable. Even as a modern retelling of Carrie it felt like its own blood with parallels to Carrie more than a retelling. Tiffany D Jackson did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life and showing us just enough about everyone to truly understand who they are and the roles that they play.
Each character is facing a struggle of their own or living with a certain dynamic that we can’t deny the effects of. Maddie, living in an abusive and alienated home is naturally going to be the way that she’s portrayed. Nervous, skeptical, and scared. Kendrick and the dynamic with his father easily explains his own train of thoughts and chooses in friends. Jules and her parents who although have very small moments in the book show us exactly why Jules is Jules and we’ve all seen a Jules in our life -believe me.
What I especially liked what how Tiffany D Jackson was able to capture the inner monologue of Wendy. Girls like Wendy 100% exist. From one angle we might consider Wendy to be the ultimate pick-me but truly she’s a puppet – master who needs to work a little harder on reading the room and having more confidence. After all her plan to be wifey of an NFL star really should have gone off without a hitch if this was real life.
I also appreciated that even though this book is about straight up racism it isn’t hard to get through. You can almost expect the things that happen to have happened. For example, the halloween costume incident with Jules. Yes, Kendrick was riled up but there was no reason for the school administration to think he was more of a problem then Jules. And incase you’re wondering Jules is a f***ing problem. A lot of what’s going on in the book was because of her choices.
What I Didn’t Like About This Book
There were very few things about this book that I didn’t like. For starters, I hated that everything was easily tied back to racism. It was a stark reminder that we really can’t get away from it. You can be the kid with all white friends turning your nose up at anything black but, step out of line even just once and it’s inexcusable. Even if you’ve accepted every microaggression, backhanded comment or joke. You can be the kid whose pro-black and always fighting for what you believe to be right but, ultimately, you’ll also always been seen as aggressive and scary and potentially violent. You can even be like Maddie, no one could have a clue you’re black and once they do a whole new level of torment begins and every story is one that can easily be twisted into you being the bad guy.
I also really didn’t enjoy how Maddie was able to pretty much control her powers so fast and absolute dominate with them. Telekinisis and pyrokinisis being mastered in a matter of months? I wanted a little more background on where those powers came from. I didn’t like that we weren’t given much background on her mother and we had to do a lot of assuming about her as well. Afterall, we thought the powers came from Maddies mom but apparently they were from her fathers mother? It didn’t make much sense to me. I might also say I didn’t like that we were given such an open ending. I would have loved to not assume what happened to our main characters and their budding romance.
Who I recommend this book? If so, to who?
I would recommend this book to anyone who originally enjoyed the original story of Carrie. However since racism is in this book in so many ways where it’s subtle, systematic, or blatant I don’t suggest it to anyone who can’t handle that theme.
FIND ME ON FABLE!
I absolutely love the Fable App. I discovered it a few months ago while I was looking for a community based app where I could connect with other readers and find bookclubs. Fable was a perfect match because I could keep a record of all my books, leave book reviews, read book reviews, and interact with other peoples reviews, plus join or create my own bookclubs. Which by the way I do plan on creating a bookclub soon —Join my Newsletter— so when its announced you’ll be the first to know! Not only that but their book rating system allows me to choose at .25, .50 and .75 which is great for books that aren’t a solid star. Fable is easy to use and I definitely enjoy reading along with others or seeing what other people think about the books I’ve read or plan to read.
Join me on a reading adventure in the FABLE APP! CLICK HERE
While we’re on the topics of apps, I also want to share two of my favorite apps to use for reading and they are Libby and Hoopla.
Both of these apps will require you to have a library card but, they’re amazing for avid readers on a budget. Or people who want to support their local library -both of which are me. If you’re wanting to test new genres, read the latest and most viral books, or simply just don’t want the clutter of books around your house I recommend either one of these apps. You can also borrow audio books which I think is a great feature for people who don’t have the time to read but love to listen! I hope you check them out