Content Warning: Domestic Violence, Anger Issues, Cheating,
I liked it. It's pretty sexy, down to Earth, with a lot of characters and drama to go around. Travis is a player and Sade is rather old-fashioned, which she's defensive about.
COED starts with Sade moving into Travis's house and Travis has a bachelor party for a friend of his happening that night. It's clear that they've got tension and awkwardness from the get go. What happens next just speeds it up. It's a short tale, only 150 pages, and I wonder how it'd work out if given more room to flourish.
I call it sexy but don't get it confused with erotica. The characters are very hott and there's plenty of checking out, flirting, and thinking going around. The two sex scenes that immediately come to mind though are rather sad. It's not the right time with the right people, so of course the sex is bad. Poor Sade! The best she got in the story is an erotic dream.
- I liked Travis and Sade's friendship. Travis was very real about the difference in emotional and psychological support received from men and women. I'm even happier he decided to be a better friend!
- I love how Sade owns her sexuality
- I'm glad those who got cheated on were mad at the cheaters, not the other innocent party.
- I liked how Travis is on medication for his bipolar disorder.
- I liked how Sade confronted her issues and moved forward with handling them instead of taking the easy way out.
- I liked the scene where they're at the couple's meeting together. Sade's thought process on being a woman that gets hit by a man is so spot on, it's depressing. I remember thinking that way before I became a survivor. I just wish this idea was pushed back instead of reinforced with the Ex-Wife.
- The Shop scenes were pretty funny, though the Silent Treatment ones were the best IMHO.
- Travis is the most authentic sounding guy...most of the time. His childhood is spot on, those passages were amazing.
- I don't "get" Travis's dumbass decision on a visceral level, but I know it's realistic and people, especially men, are just that fucking stupid. Stupid, stupid people.
- I'm glad Sade got more understanding and support than just "leave his cheating ass!!". It's HARD. It HURTS. And your feelings just don't dry up automatically....
- I'm glad The Stripper isn't slut-shamed by Travis, because nobody needs that nonsense and it would make him a hypocritical bastard. However, it feels like Travis has a Madonna-Whore complex, with her and Sade on opposing ends. With Sade's preaching of old-fashioned sensibilities, it's definitely keeping inline with the status quo of wifey material.
- Weird that a grown man Googled why nipples got hard. (Maybe that's just me?)
- Don't like how the Ex-Wife was portrayed. I've never met a DV victim like that and don't like how he gets help, but she doesn't. Usually it's the other way around. Everything about her is a cry for help, but instead, she's the instigator and the crazy one. Ugh. I hate how baby mama is always a problem character. This bullshit hits far too close to home.
- I DID NOT appreciate Sade being judgmental against the Ex-Wife. (See above.)
- I wish Travis and Sade went to therapy, separately, for their issues. It's a tad unfair that Travis gets help through Sade as a therapist stand-in but Sade has to conquer her own demons alone. Therapy would even this out and help raise awareness and normalize therapy, which is always a good thing.
- I can do without the breaking the fourth wall moment, where Travis tell us how James Fant loves to break chapters to build suspense (paraphrasing)
- I can totally see a series happening based off of other characters around COED the shop and think that'd be pretty cool.
Related Social Justice Reading:
- Why the Black Community Has a Fraught Relationship With Therapy
- 3 Compelling Truths About Feminism That All Black Men Should Consider
- Black Men and Mental Illness Can Be a Barbershop Conversation, Too