Nightcrawling

3.5

I raced through this novel over the weekend in preparation for Leila Mottley's appearance at Inprint in Houston on Monday night.

It was a grueling read. Children and teens are left to fend for themselves by the grownups in their lives. Almost everyone makes poor choices in life that lead to jail time and fights and unemployment and exploitation and other awful outcomes.

But the poor choices are, sadly, made from a slate of possible choices, all of which are poor choices. People let each other down. People bail on others. People openly use other people. People physically hurt other people. The only word is grueling.

Still, I'm glad I read this, and I'd urge you to read it, too. Lots of people in our world are living awful lives, and we can't try to make things better unless we know about those lives. And I'd like to start with the children, like those in this book.

“Mama used to tell me that blood is everything, but I think we're all out here unlearning that sentiment, scraping our knees and asking strangers to patch us back up.”

Every sentence reads as it's part of a poem - where words pierce you and stay with you for longer than air stays in your lungs. This is a beautiful story, and I say beautiful with caution and more in regards to how much feelings it can produce.

I had so much to say about this book. Alas... I don't have it in me anymore. Not after having a discussion with a friend.

This book puts its main character through hell and back. This book puts the reader through hell and back.

I was not a fan of the ending. For ME it did not ring true to what I've come to know as the most likely outcome of a settlement. I as a reader who had just swam through the fires of hell upon finishing the book, needed that settlement. I needed more for all of the people in this book.

I just want us to stop settling for crumbs. I had to sit in book club discussion as all the clear folks agreed that this was the most realistic outcome. It's just me. If you don't agree...No worries... Argue with your Grandma, your momma and auntie too.

BTW... this was based on a real story. At least THEY got a hefty settlement. Found this tidbit out while the clear folks were trying to gaslight me into believing I was reaching for a dream. Money doesn't fix everything but it sure does feel a little like reparation.

Beautifully descriptive writing. Man this author can write a sentence, paragraph, chapter, and story.

I didn't want this to end. It was a great, albeit disturbing read about poverty, rape, abuse of power, and prison and drugs. Although it is fiction, the story backbone is about real events.

Well done!

heartbreaking and depressing.

rant incoming:
I grew up dirt poor and being poor as a child is basically being an adult stuck in a kid body. From birth-18 years old, we shouldn't have had to worry if we would be evicted, had power shut off, wondering when we would eat next but we went to bed and school with thoughts clouding our heads of how and when we could make rent.
Poor children don't get childhoods!
The world works hard to keep poor people under their shoes. The rich don't get taxed but a person who works overtime to not even be able to afford rent gets hounded and fined for being late paying a bill.
I will forever hate this world until the rich realise they are rich because of us. I will hate this world until children don't have to sell their bodies to be able to eat and survive while celebrities hoard wealth.

Leila Mottley's writing style is so assured, in many ways it's hard to believe she was only 17 when she began writing this. In other ways, it seems more obvious. This novel covers a lot: poverty, sex work, police brutality and corruption, addiction, and the realities of being a young black woman in modern America. And while Mottley has clearly done her research, at times the prose paired with the subject matters teetered on the edge of the melodramatic. That sounds like an extremely crass way of putting it, but sometimes it all just felt like TOO much was going on. Nevertheless, this was so impressive for someone so young, and I have no doubts that Leila Mottley has a promising career coming up, and I am very much looking forward to reading whatever she chooses to put out next.

Oh, what to even say about this book!

An incredible book that was so beautifully written! It was so sad, heartbreaking and just really, really gut wrenching!

As I read about poor Kiara and Trevor and their struggles just to make ends meet, my heart broke for them again and again.

It made me so sad/angry/frustrated that the people who were supposed to protect them took advantage of them!

On a slightly positive note, I loved the relationship between Kiara and Trevor.

Thank you to PH for sharing this excellent book with us. If not for you I don't think I would have even read it. Thank you also to author Leila for sharing this book with us!

I cannot recommend this book highly enough!