Book Report 44
What I read from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20: Filthy Rich Fae and Nickel Boys
I’ve been really sad and bordering on hopeless lately, so I just wanted to read something trashy and not heavy. Unfortunately, the book I had queued up in my Libby library was Nickel Boys. The last few weeks of the news cycle - the Ukranian woman who was murdered on the bus, followed by Charlie Kirk’s assassination - brought a cloud of evil intent with it. People are using these events as an excuse to spout hateful views about people they don’t like, especially Black people. It’s exhausting. It reminds me of Obama’s first election campaign, where the excitement over a Black man’s presidency was overshadowed by the racism people displayed publicly, as if to make sure that Black people know we’re still the dirt society is built upon. And in that moment, I didn’t want to read a book about a time in history that it seems a lot of people want to go back to.
So, I scrolled through what was available now on Libby (SPONSOR MEEEE) and my eye caught on Filthy Rich Fae, which I knew would be bad because that title is nonsense and also it’s been recommended by Booktok, but sometimes it’s exactly what I need. I’ve opined a lot about how I am unable to define what is bad and what is good bad. It’s a fine line.
This was bad, and so, I begrudgingly read my historical fiction (but based on very real pain and suffering). It was very good, but now I’m sadder and madder.
Filthy Rich Fae, by Geneva Lee
Genre: Fantasy
What’s it about: Cate and her brother, Channing, made a promise: They would never get tangled up with the dangerous Gage crime family that runs New Orleans. As a nurse, Cate has seen first hand the damage the family - and their product - do to people. But when her brother crosses the Gages and lands in her hospital, Cate is forced to strike a bargain with the leader of the family to save him. Unfortunately, Lachlan Gage isn’t just a crime boss, he’s fae, and he doesn’t want Cate’s money, he wants her soul.
The only way Cate can free herself from the deal and escape a dangerous life of Fae politics is to solve Lachlan’s riddle in 30 days, or kill him. But the more she gets to know him, the harder is to resist him.
Was it good? Nope, it was not, but it was about what I expected. I had hoped it would be more fun. It’s a mash up of a lot of different tropes - you’ve got the New -Orleans-is-home-to-sexy-paranormal-creatures, you’ve got mob bosses, you’ve got immortal men who love young women, and of course, dark fairy. But the author only takes the most surface level attributes of each, and the prose is cringy. I love stories about the fae - so many cultures have stories about fairies and there are so many cool details to play with. Unfortunately, these fae are mostly just sexy mafiosos who also have been alive for like 200 years. This is also one of those books where the plot is largely driven by people making very bad decisions based on insane leaps of logic or misunderstandings.
Highlights:
This has many hallmarks of immature writing to me: overuse of description of physical reactions, long descriptions of clothes that don’t say anything about the character and weird adverbs. I do empathize, because this describes everything I wrote as a teenager and in my early 20s.
The sex scenes are fine? I’d give this 3 peppers out of 5. The main love interest isn’t totally evil, which is nice. But, Cate is just so thirsty for him immediately. And I cannot imagine a person to be so attractive that even though I loathe them (and hold them responsible for an opioid epidemic) I still want to bang them.
So part of why I picked this book is that I love a story based around a sibling relationship. Unfortunately, these siblings are dumb. Channing is the most annoying younger brother imaginable and while I would die for my little brother if he regularly bargained (poorly) with dangerous mythical creatures instead of getting a job I would, maybe, reconsider that.
I wrote a teeny bit last week about sexual assault in books, and I actually think this book was a good example of its inclusion in the plot without it being like…exploitative.
Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead
Genre: Historical
What’s it about: Elwood Curtis is a black boy growing up in Talahassee in the 1960s. Inspired by the civil rights movement, he navigates the barriers against him in the Jim Crow south with a philosophical optimism that there is hope for Black people. But when he is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reform school, he learns there’s a new depth for horror and cruelty against black boys. He forms a friendship with fellow inmate, Turner, who does not share Elwood’s hope: he thinks the world is cruel and you must survive through cunning. As their time at Nickel Academy grows more and more dangerous, Elwood and Turner’s debate about justice leads to a fateful decision that shapes their future.
Was it good? Of course, it did win the Pulitzer Prize, after all. I loved it, even after all my dread. Whitehead jumps between the past at Nickel Academy and modern day, and it’s so effective in illustrating how recent these injustices were, and how the consequences can’t be erased by time. Elwood’s continued belief that there will be justice and the Black people will attain some semblance of human respect is heartbreaking because you have to believe that in order to not get swallowed by the unfairness of it all, but you can’t look away from all the ways it seems impossible. It’s written in a way that’s evocative and it is heavy, but there are moments of levity and more importantly, every day life.
Highlights:
The Nickel Academy, and the events that occurred there, are based on a real reform school. What happened to these young men in the fictional Nickel Academy was enough to make me cry; and knowing that there are people alive today who share those experiences is frankly, too much.
There are two quotes that struck me, hard. One is a quote from Martin Luther King from a sermon he gave in 1957 that inspires Elwood, but makes me full of rage: “But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. And one day we will win our freedom but we will not only win freedom for ourselves.” It’s a beautiful sentiment, of course, but I can’t help but feel furious that Black people have to have this capacity, and be gracious through it all.
The second comes from Elwood’s musings as an adult in modern times. He talks about living as a Black person and “the slights you have to forget or else you become crazy.” I feel this pretty much every day.
The novel is straightforwardly about a time in history and the impact of racism on individuals and society, but it is also about big philosophical questions about how live with that impact: Violence versus nonviolence, individualism versus collectivism, to forget or to remember. Elwood and Turner, both boys in brutal circumstances, manage to explore this as they fight to survive.