Sugar

Brutal from the very first page; kind of in the sense of [b:Friday Black 37570595 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519263290l/37570595.SY75.jpg 59181816] only more believable hence much more heartbreaking.Despite the everpresent grimness — and I mean it, there is horrifying violence here, both physical and emotional, foreground and background — this is a tender book. McFadden loves her main characters and we get to as well, so much so that we can forgive the side characters being mostly caricatures: the Madam With A Heart Of Gold, the Scumbag Music Industry Exec, the Snippy Gossipy Hypocrite Churchy Ladies (they serve their purpose, and this isn't their story). Tender, appalling, gripping, deeply tragic, also thoughtful and even inspiring. Those of us who weren't Southern Blacks in the forties and fifties will never truly understand, but we should still take as many opportunities as we can to try, and this is a good one. About the ending: do not expect a Disney ending, nor closure nor satisfaction. It is, however, the kind of ending that will leave you pensive for a day or two.Four and a half stars, rounding up because I still feel moved many hours later.