Black Enough – Stories of Being Young & Black in America is a collection of short stories by Black authors. This was my reading experience:

What I loved

The stories are wonderfully diverse in voice, POV, setting, and language, portraying the adolescent main characters in a variety of life situations.

Some of the reoccurring conflicts revolve around how being Black is regarded within their family or prejudices their family holds against other classes or white people. The protagonists carry a more liberal attitude and get caught in between:

· Makenzie, a Black girl from the upper class, has adopted her mother’s prejudices, until she falls in love with Kamari, a Black boy from the lower class.

· A father pushes his daughter into a career he sees as a chance for her to rise, because “too many doors slammed in [his sisters] face, or never opened.” But Nivia has a different dream.

· Joni feels provoked by her cousin’s prejudices against her upper class life amongst mostly white people, when she suddenly realizes that she also holds a negative opinion of the way he lives.

· With her father as the leader of a movement which is radical and highly prejudiced against white people, Geri wants nothing more than to live her own truth in the “white world” and escapes for one night.

Addressed are also conflicts between teens in terms of their responsibility in the BLM movement:

· Cameron hangs out with mostly white kids but tries to also fit in with his Black friends. He doesn’t give it much attention when a Black kid from the neighborhood is shot by the police. Only after the girl he loves withdraws from him, he learns that he’s not rooted in his own culture.

Deeply emotional history is told in the story in which a gay Black model sees the reflection of a slave from the 1840s in his facial steam bath. Their conversation, the discrepancies in their language, the play with past and future, and the surprising ending makes this a magical story that I understand as unresolved family trauma.

Family trauma also plays a major role in the story of Onyekachi, a young boy who has been obedient to his strict mother until he falls in love with Desirée and her heavy metal music. When the music stirs up suppressed emotions in him, he dares to ask his mother about the war she experiences in her home country Nigeria.

Immigration is also a topic in the story about a girl who is touched inappropriately by a boy in a club. All of a sudden, time is standing still for her as the long line of conflicts and sexism in her home country Trinidad well up inside her and prevent her from “making a scene” about the sexual assault.

Quite a few stories broach the topic of being Black and gay:

· A Black girl explores her first lesbian relationship with a white girl, but they’ll soon have to leave (each other) for college.

· A Black farm boy falls in love with his white neighbor boy, whose parents are racist.

· Cassie resistantly becomes aware of her sexual orientation through a comment from her classmate Tessa. When the girl dies in a car accident, Cassie is left with inner turbulences.

Not all of the stories focus on conflicts around being Black but aspects of teen life. They are coming-of-age stories about kids trying to find their path and identity in life:

· Keri is so caught up in winning back Lucas, who doesn’t love or accept her the way she is, that she misses out on the right boy…but instead learns a lesson of self-worth.

· Left by her father when she was a little child, 17-year-old Raven gets to know his “new” daughter, who she blamed all these years for having to grow up without a father.

Since I didn’t grow up in the US, and I’m not familiar with specific language used by (I assume) mostly Black people, I loved learning words like high-top fade, Oreo, puffs, flat-twisting and cornrowing hair, and the occasional slang dialogue.

What I didn’t love

A few of the stories seem a bit too hastily tied up, which makes those endings abrupt or suddenly unrealistic.

There are a couple of typos & misspellings. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine, especially when it comes to books…

Conclusion

An easy, fun & wonderful read – the kind of book I was looking forward to reading each day!

I connected well with each main character and got drawn into their story with ease. I also found so much value in experiencing their very different worlds, problems, and delights. Some of the stories are light and funny, others are quite serious, and I could never tell what to expect from an ending.

Many of these stories moved me deeply and stayed with me for a while. Each author’s writing is filled with empathy, heart, and depth.

I recommend this book to everyone who loves reading YA literature and wants to learn more about the different facets and challenges in the lives of Black teens. It definitely shifted my perception and gave me much insight and a better understanding.

This was the first book review on my blog, and I’d love to hear your feedback! What did you like or dislike about my review? Was there an aspect I’ve missed?

Love & diversity,