Tag: racism

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Lekeisha The Booknerd15 Comments
26025588Published: August 23rd 2016

Publisher: Random House

Genres: Literary Fiction, Culttural

Format: ARC Source: Won

My Rating: 4 Stars

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

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Review: Ruby by Cynthia Bond

Lekeisha The Booknerd9 Comments

*This book was first published January 1st 2014*

24902492Release Date: February 10th 2015

Publisher: Hogarth

Genres: Adult-Fiction/Historical/Literary-Fiction/African-American Culture

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

My Rating: 4 Stars

Find It: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby Bell, “the kind of pretty it hurt to look at,” has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city–the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village–all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, thirty-year-old Ruby finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy.

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Since You’ve Been Gone by Mary Jennifer Payne

Lekeisha The Booknerd2 Comments

21509074Release Date: February 17th 2015

Publisher: Dundurn Group

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary/ Realistic Fiction

Format: eARC

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

My Rating: 2 Umbrellas

Find It: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Is it possible to outrun your past? Fifteen-year-old Edie Fraser and her mother, Sydney, have been trying to do just that for five years. Now, things have gone from bad to worse. Not only has Edie had to move to another new school she’s in a different country.
Sydney promises her that this is their chance at a fresh start, and Edie does her best to adjust to life in London, England, despite being targeted by the school bully. But when Sydney goes out to work the night shift and doesn’t come home, Edie is terrified that the past has finally caught up with them.
Alone in a strange country, Edie is afraid to call the police for fear that she ll be sent back to her abusive father. Determined to find her mother, but with no idea where to start, she must now face the most difficult decision of her life.

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