American Street

by Ibi Zoboi

[nannah]

Ahh, this is some good contemporary YA fiction. I don't even like contemporary fiction all that much, but I enjoyed this a lot.

Book content warnings:
drugs
domestic violence/abuse

Fabiola and her mother are finally coming to America from Haiti to live a better life on the corner of America and Joy street. But when her mother is detained, and the picture-perfect American ideal is dashed when she discovers life is just as dangerous here as it is in Haiti. It's not the only discovery she makes about America--or her family: her three cousins and her aunt.

This book is incredibly engaging, and what I loved most about it is probably the weaving in of religion. Though, I really hesitate to call it magical realism? I mean . . . I understand why, but at the same time, if Fab was a Christian and didn't practice Vodou--and therefore Papa Legba was an Angel and not an Lwa, would it still be magical realism or under the category Religious? Maybe that's a discussion for a different place/time . . .

Anyway, that mix of religion and contemporary fiction was so genuine and beautiful, especially because that religion wasn't Christianity (as I'm not Christian myself). It's so nice and refreshing to see a religion treated so beautifully and without judgement (especially religions practiced by non-white people) in young adult books. Then again, the author is black, so that's probably the main reason why!

I feel like I should like the secondary characters better (i.e. Fab's cousins, Pri, Donna, and Chant), but I really couldn't become as attached to them as I was for Fab. I loved the details Ibi Zoboi gave them, like that Pri uses a binder for her breasts, but they really failed to become fully fleshed to me for some reason. Also, and this is suuuuper nitpicky, but I didn't like that Pri, the only lesbian/lgbt character, was the cousin that was the most aggressive character in the book.

But anyway, a good read! A really good read.