Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’m 29% in and every buzzword of the day about white guilt, white racism, white privilege juxtaposed against FGM and everyone’s failure to stop it. The characters all speak in ethnic vernacular of unclear origin, the constant reminder of the same outsized, judge people by the color of their skin nonsense that has filled mainstream media for the last several years. I read novels for respite from real life, not to see the very stupid tropes of the day on full display. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish this. I regret pre-ordering it and paying full price for it. I will give the author props for tackling the horror and scourge of FGM and having her characters demonstrate the complexity of who supports it, who succumbs to it, and just how insidious a practice it is. But like I said, 29% in and … are white people going to be blamed for this too? Or blamed for being rich and that’s why they don’t practice FGM? Sigh. See tiresome. Just tiresome. It’s a shame. The characters that make up this series should be too smart to fall prey to this. I thought the author was too. Oh well.