This is effectively 2 books in one, it starts out in a mental health unit as we witness the arrival of Julius through the eyes of Georgia then time jumps to take us back to a year or so earlier so we can see what happened for both individuals to have ended up in a psych unit. The story flits between both individuals, we get one or two chapters following Georgia in the UK then one or two with Julius first in Nigeria then later in the UK too. It sometimes feels like this was written as two separate stories, and then later was attempted to merge them together somehow as it takes about three quarters of the book before the two eventually get to the place we first met them.
Georgia is your typical star pupil who also happens to be an ace drone pilot, competing wth her father, but she is growing out of that. She has a perfect big suister who has it all, or so it seemed, until she commits suicide which totally throws Georgia's worldview into a spin, making her question the point of everything and falling in with a bunch of liberal leftie protesters and the eventual attempted paint bombing by drone of the prime minister as he gives a speech.
Julius is a gay Nigerian teen, which is still treated badly by his family and school friends. He is mocked, bullied and eventually sent abroad to boarding school so his sexual orientation doesn't harm his family's re-election changes at the state governorship. He has grown up with money and in a walled compound so is removed from the day to day trials and tribulations of a normal Nigerian family. But he falls for someone from the opposite end of the spectrum, no money and living in a rough area. A bit cliche but is neeed to move his story along. After being sent abroad his lover is brutally murdered by one of his homophobic cousins, which is the catalyst for his self destruction that makes him end up in the psych ward.
The individual stories were engaging and faster paced in the second half but i was a little disappointed in the short time spent with the psych unit, we didn't explore enough how it was trying to help the individuals other than a couple of brief group sessions being mentioned. A bit more time spent here could have been so much better.
Georgia is your typical star pupil who also happens to be an ace drone pilot, competing wth her father, but she is growing out of that. She has a perfect big suister who has it all, or so it seemed, until she commits suicide which totally throws Georgia's worldview into a spin, making her question the point of everything and falling in with a bunch of liberal leftie protesters and the eventual attempted paint bombing by drone of the prime minister as he gives a speech.
Julius is a gay Nigerian teen, which is still treated badly by his family and school friends. He is mocked, bullied and eventually sent abroad to boarding school so his sexual orientation doesn't harm his family's re-election changes at the state governorship. He has grown up with money and in a walled compound so is removed from the day to day trials and tribulations of a normal Nigerian family. But he falls for someone from the opposite end of the spectrum, no money and living in a rough area. A bit cliche but is neeed to move his story along. After being sent abroad his lover is brutally murdered by one of his homophobic cousins, which is the catalyst for his self destruction that makes him end up in the psych ward.
The individual stories were engaging and faster paced in the second half but i was a little disappointed in the short time spent with the psych unit, we didn't explore enough how it was trying to help the individuals other than a couple of brief group sessions being mentioned. A bit more time spent here could have been so much better.