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A review by axmed
Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
this novel addresses a very important topic which i have not seen explored in novels as much, but i expect there will be more novels and memoirs to come on this topic, because the exploitation of children by their parents to gain social media following and money, is just getting worse.
this novel has the added layer of the parent doing the exploiting being white and is the stepmom of the main character and the mom of her younger sibling, both of whom are Black (the younger sister is mixed race obviously). but the authors choses to go out of her way to not discuss the inherent harm of a Black child being raised by a white parent. there is only a few times where the author alludes to this, but never actually addresses it. and since the harm that white parent causes the main character and her younger sister is the main topic of the book, it could leave some Black readers thinking that the exploitation would have not have happened with 2 Black parents, which in the case of social media, we know is not true. this then undermines the central point of the novel. also, although the discussion of the harm of a white parent raising a Black child is avoided, we are reminded very often that the white woman REALLY loved / loves her Black stepchild (main character). this is done from the pov of the main character, the main character's father and the ww herself. so that part the writer definitely wants us to know, but discussing whiteness and the harms that comes with that, ESPECIALLY when a yt person raises a Black child....none of that! even her very close Black friends don't mention this AT ALL, which is so unreal, especially for young millennials / older gen z...like bffr!
and to top it all off, they push the moral panic around 'pedos downloading pictures of children' which perpetuates the myth that the thing that is the most harmful to children is a scary stranger on the internet, when the vast majority of children are abused (both sexually and otherwise) by people they know.
i still gave it 3* because it is a topic that is v important and there are so many beautiful relationships in the book that are depicted so well, but it is really disappointing that the author chose to undermine the most important topic of the novel.
this novel has the added layer of the parent doing the exploiting being white and is the stepmom of the main character and the mom of her younger sibling, both of whom are Black (the younger sister is mixed race obviously). but the authors choses to go out of her way to not discuss the inherent harm of a Black child being raised by a white parent. there is only a few times where the author alludes to this, but never actually addresses it. and since the harm that white parent causes the main character and her younger sister is the main topic of the book, it could leave some Black readers thinking that the exploitation would have not have happened with 2 Black parents, which in the case of social media, we know is not true. this then undermines the central point of the novel. also, although the discussion of the harm of a white parent raising a Black child is avoided, we are reminded very often that the white woman REALLY loved / loves her Black stepchild (main character). this is done from the pov of the main character, the main character's father and the ww herself. so that part the writer definitely wants us to know, but discussing whiteness and the harms that comes with that, ESPECIALLY when a yt person raises a Black child....none of that! even her very close Black friends don't mention this AT ALL, which is so unreal, especially for young millennials / older gen z...like bffr!
and to top it all off, they push the moral panic around 'pedos downloading pictures of children' which perpetuates the myth that the thing that is the most harmful to children is a scary stranger on the internet, when the vast majority of children are abused (both sexually and otherwise) by people they know.
i still gave it 3* because it is a topic that is v important and there are so many beautiful relationships in the book that are depicted so well, but it is really disappointing that the author chose to undermine the most important topic of the novel.