Black Joy by various authors

Black Joy by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over a month

Pages - 416

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Vine

Blurb from Goodreads

Love, literature, friendship, music, carnival, travel, dance, work, nature, food - Black Joy can be found in so many places.


Edited by award-winning journalist Charlie Brinkhust-Cuff and up-and-coming talent Timi Sotire, join twenty-eight inspirational voices in this uplifting and empowering anthology as they come together to celebrate being Black British, sharing their experiences of joy and what it means to them.


With incredible pieces from:

Diane Abbott - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé - Fopé Ajanaku - Athian Akec - Travis Alabanza - Haaniyah Angus - Rukiat Ashawe - Bukky Bakray - Richie Brave - Munya Chawawa - Ruby Fatimilehin - Theophina Gabriel - Lauryn Green - Ife Grillo - Isaac James - Chanté Joseph - Vanessa Kisuule - Henrie Kwushue - Tobi Kyeremateng - Mikai McDermott - Jason Okundaye - Tope Olufemi - Melz Owusu - Leigh-Anne Pinnock - Mayowa Quadri - Lavinya Stennett - Timi Sotire - Sophia Tassew

An exciting, much-needed collection of writing perfect for readers of Feminists Don't Wear Pink, Slay in Your Lane and Love in Colour.


My Review

Normally when I take so long to read a book it is because I am not enjoying it, it was the opposite with this one. I really liked it however because it is real stories from people you want to take time to digest it. Each story also ends with a box telling you to do, think, try, call so you just take a bit of time going over what you read.

Lots of experiences, some uplifting, some emotive but all with joy, happiness and or personal growth. You will recognise some of the names in this book, famous people whose experiences may well shock you, the girl from a well known successful pop group being treated very different to her colleagues because of the colour of her skin. How she became stronger and learned to love herself, we learn about her heritage, growing up in love and encouragement.

Some of the stories have some challenging issues to say the least the authors have experienced in their lives and things of joy, power, happiness they share with the reader. It really makes you stop and think, so much tradition, family values and food it was so nice reading so many different life stories infused with ideas for the reader to find their own joy.

It is a different book, it touches on harder aspects of life/inequality/feelings/emotions and despite the things some of the authors have endured they still find happiness, pride and joy and share that with the reader, 4/5 for me!

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Tell Me How To Be by Neel Patel

Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 2 days

Pages - 336

Publisher - Trapeze books

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Lost in the jungle of Los Angeles, Akash Amin is filled with shame. Shame for liking men. Shame for wanting to be a songwriter. Shame for not being like his perfect brother. Shame for his alcoholism. And most of all, shame for what happened with the first boy he ever loved. When his mother tells him she is selling the family home, Akash must return to Illinois to confront his demons and the painful memory of a sexual awakening that became a nightmare.

Akash's mum, Renu, is also plagued by guilt. She had it all: doting husband, beautiful house, healthy sons. But as the one-year anniversary of her husband's death approaches Renu can't stop wondering if she chose the wrong life thirty-five years ago and should have stayed in London with her first love.

Together, Renu and Akash pack up the house, retreating further into the secrets that stand between them. When their pasts catch up to them, Renu and Akash must decide between the lives they left behind and the ones they've since created.

By turns irreverent and tender, filled with the beats of '90s R&B, Tell Me How to Be is about our earliest betrayals and the cost of reconciliation. But most of all, it is the love story of a mother and son each trying to figure out how to be in the world.



My Review

Growing up in a family where expectations and traditions are set, your brother is everything to make the parents proud and you seem to always be the opposite. You can be your true self, your career is a disappointment - you just want to write songs and you have a secret that is tearing you apart. That is Akash, never measuring up to family expectations, hiding his sexuality, shamed and his internal war causing addictions and destructive behaviour.

The book splits between the view points of Akash and his mum Renu, after his fathers sudden death she is finding herself in a strange new life. She can do what she wants and Renu has her own guilt and secrets. With opportunity and freedom she looks up her old flame but can a widow, with expectations really follow her heart after all these years?

The book is really emotive. I felt for Akash, I got annoyed at him, I felt sad for him, I wanted to hug him, I wanted to slap him. Self destructive behaviour, lashing out, hiding behind a façade and struggling between who he is and who he appears to be for his family. They both, Akash and Renu visit back to their past and secrets that have plagued them and impacted on who they are and actions to the present predicaments they find themselves in.

Again with Renu, I fist pumped the air at one point GO GIRL then another I wanted to slap her for her cruel mouth. As you learn more about both complex characters you understand a bit more about why they are the way they are now, in the present. Woven throughout the book we have lyrics and music from the 90's some I knew and had a wee bit of nostalgia, some I had to ask Alexa to play.

I also liked learning a bit about Akash and Renu's culture, I was often putting the book down to google stuff and I do enjoy when a book gives you a chance to learn a bit more like this. the book features a lot of themes, as I said it is emotive. A gay man having to suppress who he is and the negative impact that has on him, sexuality, sex, love, relationships and Renu, how an arranged marriage impacted so heavily on her life, outlook. What it is like living where she is as a married woman, how the locals treat her and how things are different now she is a widow.

I could go on and on about this book to be honest, it has a very raw and human feel to it, things you like about them, things you don't, how they behave, react, act, family/relationship issues and of course the old actions and consequences. This is my first time reading this author, it won't be my last 4/5 for me this time.

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