Black Cake

Black Cake starts off promising with an enigmatic premise. Two estranged adult siblings learn that their dead mother wasn't who they thought she was. It was interesting and engaging to watch the story unravel at first, but the second half of the book really suffers from trying to do too much at once. As other reviewers have mentioned, the author addresses a whole host of social and political issues from the perspectives of numerous characters. I really felt that the plot started to drag and we had too many digressions. It feels like the author didn't want even a single loose end, but many of the resolutions felt contrived to me. Some questions don't need an answer, especially if the answer is obvious or unremarkable.