American Street by Ibi Zoboi

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story of Fabiola, who immigrates back to America (Detroit) after living most of her 17 years of life in Haiti, is culturally captivating. I enjoyed every bit of Haitian culture, including the interesting insights into voodoo.

At it's heart, this is a story of family and poverty. Fabiola's extended family is not particularly nice, but they are multifaceted, which I appreciate. Let it be noted that this is a heavy, often depressing read, full of characters who make difficult and often poor decisions.

I do not love the plot, nor do I love anything about the conclusion to the story, and that has nothing to do with the fates of the characters. I guess that I hoped to see more growth in some of the characters than what I got, and that made the conclusion frustrating, unnecessarily tragic, and somewhat lacking, for me.

However, there's a sweet romance, that is both awkward and real, so bonus points for that.

Pages: 336