Thought the first third was a 5 star story of clashing cultures between first and second generation immigrants, the last third a 5 star story of race and privilege in contemporary America, and the middle kinda “meh”. So it’s not a novel without its faults but still, worth an overall top notch rating. ( )

Two characters narrate their sides of a story. Book heads in one direction then does a U Turn. I didn't love it but it was beautifully written. ( )

For the first quarter of the book, I thought I was going to give it 5 stars. There were quite a few sentences that made no sense, but I blamed the editor for that and I thought the book was going to be good enough to look past that. This book left me very confused. If someone were to ask me what it was about, I wouldn't really know where to begin. There were some touching moments, but the story lacked cohesiveness and although a lot happened, I didn't get a sense of progression. The character development felt forced, as did much of the plot. I also felt like there were a lot of 2D characters that the author spent too much time talking about. There were so many issues that were brought up and events that occurred that were never resolved or revisited, and there were so many abrupt plot points. I also realized that despite being able to relate to some of the characters, I still didn't feel anything for them. During a part where the reader is clearly supposed to be heartbroken, I was just confused.
The writing was good, for the most part. The characters were fairly thought-out. There were certain parts of the book that stood out to me positively, which is why I gave it 3 stars, but overall, I think the story had a lot more potential than what the novel gave. ( )

This was amazing. I was sucked in read the whole thing in one go.
My copy has a quote on the cover from Marlon James:
“Speak No Evil is the rarest of novels: one you start out just to read, then end up sinking so deeply into, seeming yourself so clearly in it, that the novel starts reading you”
Sums it up very well. I’d presumptively recommend this to anyone. Wowzers. ( )

I don't know why this is only allowing me to select audiobook and not hardcover, but whatever - the book is good. Go read it. :) ( )