Let's begin with the fact that Leila Mottley was SEVENTEEN when she wrote Nightcrawling 🤯... Mindblown.
This was a painfully, disturbing read which made me shudder with shame for the protagonist as her choices, or lack of, shattered her life into unfixable pieces. And to review and rate the book on those terms, is undeniably impossible. Every character felt real and their struggle multiplied.
17 year old Kiara is struggling to make ends meet; her father has died and her mother is in rehab. At one end, her brother is living a fantasy of becoming a recording artist and at the other, Kiara is almost raising 9 year old Trevor whose own mother has neglected him. Unable to pay rent and feed the family, Kiara has no choice but to take on work. Any work. Even if it means nightcrawling....
Written with poetic style and brutally honest perception of what life is like for unfortunate women living in poverty, Mottely creates a world which undeniably feels authentic. As quoted by Tommy Orange, '𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙖'.
This was a painfully, disturbing read which made me shudder with shame for the protagonist as her choices, or lack of, shattered her life into unfixable pieces. And to review and rate the book on those terms, is undeniably impossible. Every character felt real and their struggle multiplied.
17 year old Kiara is struggling to make ends meet; her father has died and her mother is in rehab. At one end, her brother is living a fantasy of becoming a recording artist and at the other, Kiara is almost raising 9 year old Trevor whose own mother has neglected him. Unable to pay rent and feed the family, Kiara has no choice but to take on work. Any work. Even if it means nightcrawling....
Written with poetic style and brutally honest perception of what life is like for unfortunate women living in poverty, Mottely creates a world which undeniably feels authentic. As quoted by Tommy Orange, '𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙖'.