Riot Baby

by Tochi Onyebuchi

Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands.

Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative. It burns fearlessly toward revolution and has quietly devastating things to say about love, fury, and the black American experience.

Ella and Kev are both shockingly human and immeasurably powerful. Their childhoods are defined and destroyed by racism. Their futures might alter the world.

• ISBN10: 1250214750
• ISBN13: 9781250214751
• Publish Date: 21 January 2020
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Out of Print: 5 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

From Tochi Onyebuchi, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” published June 1, 2020 on tor.com:

On my back porch, I held my phone in my lap and I watched that precinct burn and I saw those fireworks light up the night sky and I thought, “good.”

And something of this is in my book, I remember thinking at the time. A book where a black boy can hurt and get older and be smart and be sad and want to escape occupation and fail and have a family, and where having written it felt less like writing and more like paying witness. And this boy had a sister and she was be capable of unimaginable things. She wanted to save him from this. And she was able to fly.

On Minnehaha Avenue South, bounded by Interstates 35 W and 94 on the west and north respectively and by the Mississippi River to the east, beneath a flowerhead of fireworks was a police precinct ablaze.

I knew that image. It was in my book.

I read this book and watched a world burn, and thought, good. I look at the news and watch a world burn, and think, good.

It’s time.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Riot Baby through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Fans of Tochi Onyebuchi have been talking about their latest novella for months, and with good reason. Riot Baby is one of those novellas that will cut to the quick and stick with your mind and heart. This is a passionate tale of family, loss, and human nature. One could argue that this novella is also one part dystopian portraiture of modern events.
Ella and Kev are siblings, and they both have something in common. Each of these children are gifted. Their time on this earth has been trying, both despite and in spite of their abilities. But that just makes their tale all the more powerful.

“It always feels like something’s rumbling whenever she gets the nosebleeds, like the earth is gathering itself up under her, but whenever they stop, the nosebleeds, and she looks around, it’s like nobody else noticed a thing.”

Tochi Onyebuchi has done it again. Riot Baby was an intense – yet beautiful and powerful – read. This world created before our eyes is a troubled one, full of violence, riots, and unjust actions. There’s an intentional parallel being drawn here, and the impact of it took my breath away.
Ella and Kev may be siblings, but they couldn’t be more different from one another. But then again, their gifts and the world they were raised in were also quite different, so some of this was to be expected.
One thing is certain; while both of these siblings are very different, they both struggled in their own ways. Ella feared herself and her powers. She dealt with pain and loss – even when it hadn’t yet happened. Kev was fierce and determined, yet also struggling with loss in his own way. His pain was acute, and the cause for it was so much more human, in a way.
Their individual pain was palpable, increased even more by the events that tied them directly into today’s time. There’s something jarring about that, while also being very powerful and beautiful.
Onyebuchi’s unflinching portrayal of all of the racism and violence in this world is something to be respected. This is not an ideal world presented. Instead, it is a world rooted in the past, with worrying implications and warnings about our future. It’s impossible to look away, and I for one am so very grateful to Onyebuchi for putting words to some of these events and emotions.
Having finished Riot Baby, I can now completely understand why so many people have been talking about it. And I honestly think that it’s a novella we’re going to keep talking about for years to come. Or at least, I hope that is the case.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

Riot Baby is powerful, raw, heartbreaking, and an absolute must read. I am going to try to give as little away as possible for two reasons: One, I think you need to read it for yourself; and two, I genuinely don't think I could do an explanation justice. The story primarily centers around siblings Ella and Kev, and their experiences as young black Americans. At pretty much every turn in their lives, their trajectories become shaped by the brutal and racist treatment of black people, often by police and others in power positions.

You will be filled with rage as you read this book. Not only for our main characters, but because it's true. While Kev and Ella are fictional, the riots are not. The experiences of young black people in this country are not.  The author makes the reader care about not only the main characters, but the manages to elicit strong feelings for even the most minor, even nameless characters. And every single thing about this story made me think about the real human beings subjected to these atrocities (and more) every day.

Bottom Line: In addition to the importance and emotional pull of Riot Baby, it's also just a damn good story. So do yourself a favor and grab it asap.