My Name Is Venus Black: A Novel

by Heather Lloyd

In this riveting, heartfelt debut, a young woman assumes a new name to escape her dark past and find the redemption she desperately seeks.

“It’s impossible not to root for this strong, willful girl as she finds her place in the world and for her brother as he tries to make sense of it.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Charming, touching, and a host of other adjectives not often associated with a murderous thirteen-year-old.”—Booklist

Venus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing.
 
More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past. Estranged from her mother, and with her beloved brother still missing, she sets out to make a fresh start in Seattle, skittish and alone. But as new people enter her orbit—including a romantic interest and a young girl who seems like a mirror image of her former lost self—old wounds resurface, and Venus realizes that she can’t find a future while she’s running from her past.
 
In this gripping story, debut novelist Heather Lloyd brilliantly captures ordinary lives thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Told through a constellation of captivating voices, My Name Is Venus Black explores the fluidity of right and wrong, the pain of betrayal, and the meaning of love and family.

Praise for My Name Is Venus Black
 
“Fans of realistic coming-of-age fiction will enjoy Lloyd’s fast-paced first novel for the freshly drawn original characters, compelling story line, and beautiful tribute to the healing power of love. It’s bound to have crossover appeal to older YA readers.”—Library Journal
 
“A dark but ultimately uplifting story about family, love, and forgiveness, and how to find your place in the world, My Name Is Venus Black is a powerful debut novel from a fresh voice in fiction.”—New York Times bestselling author Sarah Jio

• ISBN10: 0525510680
• ISBN13: 9780525510680
• Publish Date: 27 February 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 11 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Dial Press Inc.,U.S.
• Edition: International edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[gmcgregor]

Siblings are weird. Some become estranged. Some are just never close. And others have been close their whole lives. Venus Black, eponymous heroine of Heather Lloyd's My Name Is Venus Black, falls into the last category. Though her brother Leo is six years her junior and is autistic (since the book is set in the 80s, he's described as having "special needs", but he's clearly on the spectrum), and is only technically her half-brother, Venus adores him and nurtures him. But her ability to take care of him is forever changed when, at 13, she commits a serious crime. We're not sure what it is at first, the book opens in medias res while Venus is confronting her mother at the police station, being interviewed after it happens. It becomes clear pretty quickly that "it" is that she's shot and killed her stepfather. Why, though, takes a long time to come out.

Only shortly after Venus commits the murder, Leo is kidnapped by his small-time-crook of an uncle out of the backyard of a friend of his mother's. Venus is devastated when she hears that he's gone, even trying to flee from pre-trial detention to look for him. But her escape attempt is foiled, and she's sent to juvenile lock-up until she's an adult. When she gets out, she wants to just take on a new identity and keep her head down and try to figure out a way to get her brother back. She gets a job as a waitress under an assumed name, rents a room, and is trying to save up to go to California. But she can't really escape her past...a promising flirtation becomes risky when she finds out he's a cop and might be able to discover who she really is, and eventually her mother tracks her down too. When they get a lead on Leo, though, everything changes.

This book has been out for well over a year, so I don't feel bad about the fact that I'm about to "spoil" the "why-dunnit". If you'd like to remain in the dark, stop reading. I'm mostly going to spill it because the book builds up to it like it's some kind of revelation and honestly it is not at all: Venus killed her stepdad because he was peeping at her though a hole in the wall. She tells her mother, and her mother does nothing about it. It makes the rage she feels at her mother feel justified and there's absolutely no reason it needs to be hidden in the back third of the book. It's a terrible plotting decision to bury it, but that's only one in a series of bad decisions Lloyd makes in her debut novel. The characters she draws are paper-thin (with the exception of Leo, who I'll get to next) and feel not-at-all real. Venus and Leo's mother is a terrible person, but Lloyd makes her a struggling alcoholic in a way that feels like it's supposed to give her sympathy (it fails, she's still a shitty parent). There's some weird religious overtones that come out of nowhere in the end of the book and it feels shoehorned and unearned. And the ethnicity of a supporting character is constantly referenced in a way that makes it feel almost fetishistic.

The sole bright spot, really, is the portion of the story around Leo. Lloyd's ability to convey both Leo's intelligence and his limitations, the way he does love the people in his life but has a hard time expressing it in a way that they understand, is deft and well-realized. Unfortunately, that's literally the only thing that worked for me in this book. The plot is uneven, the prose competent but uninspired, the characters mostly don't work. It's not even a matter of needing a better editor...there's a story here that could be interesting, but nearly everything would need to be completely revamped to give it the telling it would need to really connect. This is a poor quality book and I don't recommend it to anyone.

[Lindsey Gray]

Over my lifetime, I’ve read hundreds of books that had a profound effect on me. They’ve made me think. They’ve made me feel. They’ve made me reflect. This thought provoking novel made me feel a gamut of emotions and reflect upon the evils of the world existing around every corner.

Venus is the all American pre-teen. She loved to gossip with her friends, had a lust for learning, and loved her little brother to the moon and back. Her life is shattered by an act she commits turning the thirteen-year-old into a criminal. The specifics of Venus’ crime are not disclosed in full until later in the novel. Through her first person point of view and the third person point of view of several other characters, the story of the tragedy unfolds.

One aspect of the novel that almost over shadows the crime is the disappearance of Venus’ mentally impaired younger brother, Leo. The main story is told over a period of six years as we learn the fate of Venus, Leo, and several other characters. While there is so much pain experienced by Venus and her family, what ultimately holds the bonds of this story together is the love they share for each other despite the horrific agony they’ve fought through.

I cannot fully express my love for Lloyd’s storytelling ability. As an adult and having gone through the trials of adolescence, I could understand the fear and anger that coursed through Venus. She was betrayed by someone who was entrusted with her safety and in her young mindset didn’t foresee the ramifications of her actions. The ripples created from one second changed the lives of Venus and her family forever.

As a debut, Lloyd excels above and beyond any first time author. While this poignant story has come to a beautiful conclusion, I would love to read more from this author. Her ability to place you in the mind of the character is the tell of a magnificent author. Lloyd has struck gold with the story of Venus Black and I look forward to her doing it again.

I received this book for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[kalventure]

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Random House, for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be available February 27, 2018. Review published on Reader Voracious blog.

3.5 stars - this book wasn't for me but might be for you!

[b:My Name Is Venus Black|35340556|My Name Is Venus Black|Heather Lloyd|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508251904s/35340556.jpg|56706272] is a beautifully written novel that follows the lives of two families in the aftermath of Venus' crime that set multiple things in motion and altered the courses of many lives. Initially the story is told from two POVs, Venus and Leo, but as the tale progresses more perspectives are included in the mix to give a well-rounded and full picture of what is happening and the impact.

If I had rated this book early on it would have been closer to 5 stars, but I was most engaged for the for 60%. Sadly my interest waned a bit the longer the circumstances of the crime were avoided, and that is the reason for my 3.5 star rating.

Reasons that this book wasn't for me but may be for you:
- The increasing number of povs that were introduced as the book carried on, without much notice or indication that it is happening. Some readers will undoubtedly love seeing the story unfold from all of these important people's perspectives, but for me it was jarring and confusing.
- Not knowing what the crime was until 15% in, and it was essentially in passing and not fully explained until 70% in.
- The time jump six years in the future. It felt anticlimactic to me and left so many questions on what happened, how the trial went, etc. I would have been interested in a smaller leap in time to showcase what transpired for her during those years but there IS a lot to be said for the way Lloyd weaves the tale: dropping hints, teasing the reader towards the answers but it is a slow journey of realization that I think a lot of readers would enjoy.