Week 38 Review: American Street

From Goodreads:
American Street is an evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Everything, Everything; Bone Gap; and All American Boys. In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture.

On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.

But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola's mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit's west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.

Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?

My Review:
Oh, this book! I don't read a lot of contemporary YA, it's just not what I gravitate towards. But it did sound interesting, and I really enjoyed Pride, so I did read this, and I had a great time with it, though there were some really hard moments!

I loved how close knit the cousins were! They'd spend almost no time together before, and now they were living together, and I just loved how close and loyal they were. Though there were disagreements, especially with Donna and her boyfriend Dray. 

Some of my favourite chapters were the in between ones, where we got the stories of these various characters, of all the cousins and her aunt, and one of them was even the history of the house, which was pretty intense! 

Yeah, there were some moments where I cringed and hard, because I was anticipating future conflict. The whole situation of Fabiola setting up Dray so she can get her mom into the US. Everything about that situation was doomed for something to go wrong, and boy did it go sideways!

This isn't a happily ever after book. It's more true to real life, and that really sucks for the characters, because real life isn't pretty, and it has its hurts. They have to pick up the pieces and just continue on living, just like real life. 

This was a fantastic read, and I can't wait to read more by Ibi Zoboi! 

Author: Ibi Zoboi
Read September 18th, 2021
Source: Edelweiss/Library
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a SAC 2021 Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: February 14th 2017

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars