Overall Take:
Quite the book, its definitely worth the read but I’d borrow a copy unless you want one to share out.
Star Rating:
5 stars
Genre:
Fiction, Contemporary
Synopsis:
Javier is a hustler. He learned from his drug dealing dad, and he’s used it to his advantage. In college his girlfriend pushed him to use his past to his advantage on the school newspaper. From there it morphed into writing a column. Then one of his stories goes viral and he lands a staff writing position for a magazine for his “unique perspective”. All is looking up until he is doing an interview and his now scorned ex-girlfriend calls in a tip that he has embellished certain parts of his past to his advantage. Will this be the end of his career, or another thing to profit from?
Thoughts:
This book was thought provoking and poignant. Making up being a victim so you can cash in on it, is never something that even remotely crossed my mind as something someone would do, so in that regard this book was eye opening as well. I will give it props for being creative.
The character was so unlikeable, but I wanted to keep reading. It reminded me much of the saying of not wanting to look away from a train wreck actually, so I think that it hit the satire nail on the head. He was just so well written though, I can’t dispute that.
I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed Yellowface, which is also satire, and that was a lot. Both books deal with race and injustice in the world as well. This book also did a fantastic job at making me feel uncomfortable at times, I wasn’t sure if I should feel bad for Javi or sympathize with him. While there wasn’t much to like about him, I did enjoy his snark.
The pacing on this one is well. It’s not too fast and its not too slow. It’s a medium pace that moves the story along allowing you to enjoy it, while not getting too bogged down in the details.
If you are looking for a satire that will make you feel uncomfortable, but is so good, then check this one out.
Thanks for my copy to:
Thank you so much to Doubleday, @Doubleday and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date:
March 12, 2024
Author:
Andrew Boryga
Page Length:
288 pages
Publisher
Doubleday
Link to buy
Affiliate link
