At first, as the dialogue began, I was made harshly aware that I’m in my forties. Even as I spend every day with teenagers as a Secondary School teacher, it still shocks me how far removed I am from what their unbelievable little world is all about; the incessant barrage of social media, their crippling obsession with image, the high-stakes academic competition…but then all these things faded into the background and a different agenda emerged, and it was quite literally black-and-white, traumatically hopeless, full of every racialised stereotype…

The plot is sneaky, sickly twisted, but the scheme is glaringly obvious—I don’t know that it would be so obvious for younger readers (?) as it’s layered with plenty of distractions and subplots to keep a reader curious. Unfortunately, the characters are simplistically dichotomised according to race, with one exception: Chiamaka’s father, and he gets a sort-of hall pass in a torrent of blanket accusations, though he doesn’t escape entirely, because even he is guilty by birth. Indeed, more depth about Chiamaka’s biracial background would have helped these characters develop, but we are simply given a brief description of her racist Italian family, unwilling to accept her and her Nigerian mother, and in true millennial fashion, the whole extended Italian ménage are effectively ‘cancelled’ from their new-American lives (read: From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home for a beautiful story of race, reconciliation and love).

Many of the characters are fickle, unobservant, and other than Chiamaka and Devon, are two-dimensional, lifeless foils that only exist to serve the plot; they display schizophrenic qualities and shift allegiances based on the needs of the progressing story. Former friends turn easily and immediately into mock-Jeckylls, and one lover drops off a sheer cliff altogether in the midst of feeble and whiny attempts at apology (no names: no spoilers here).

There is a disturbing sense of demonic hatred creeping beneath the surface of ‘clean appearances’ at the 99.6% all-white elite school, and the targets of this sinister plot are as confused as their ancestors as to the explanation. An unidentifiable masked entity, bearing the face of many, is out to destroy the only two black students and destroy their carefully constructed accolades and reputations.

Reeking of the collective-secret of cowardice KKK propaganda, the antagonist of this story looms up, bitter and petty, clawing at status and position and power, rising from an ugly period of modern history, and shoving its way into the crevices of what should be the safest of our institutions: our schools. (Yeah, right…) What follows is a full-fledged, vomit-inducing allegory of the very real and frustrating continued struggle of blacks in America to pierce the race barrier, to succeed, to excel in the arenas of academics and music, to carve out an equal place on any podium…and it continues to be unfair, imbalanced, governed by an unjust inequitable system. But this particular story gradually grows hyperbolic and so unrealistic that it strains the allegory of the power it might have otherwise possessed.

The writing certainly flows easily over the pages, despite the initial juvenile feel, but it grows up quickly, presenting very adult themes and the harsh unfair lives too many children must overcome—things too many people often drown beneath—because of oppression and the intentional systematic restraint of opportunity. Except ALL the issues here are put on one character’s plate, and I mean ALL the possible issues one teen might be required to survive; intersectionality doesn’t even begin to address the hundred nuances and racial stereotypes embodied by Devon’s character.

By the half-way point, the story crosses into a parallel universe—or what should have been a fantasy world—because it would have worked better as an allegory with its important message about systemic racism, and red-flag warnings about social eugenics, but the lack of relatable setting and increasingly improbable circumstances worked against its authenticity.

In the end, the story becomes somewhat predictable, wrought with all the disappointment we expect, and no leaders ever seem to learn, no system ever gets deconstructed, no real justice ever prevails unless the whole thing gets burned to the ground—and even then the hope at restart seems slim…

I never watched/read ‘Gossip Girl’ or ‘Get Out’ so I’m unfamiliar with the comparisons as highlighted in the synopsis for this book, but as the plot unfolded, I felt the author was more trying to emulate the eerie antagonism of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ with the outing of secrets and shaming nature of the juvenile criticisms. This was an intriguing tactic, and held my interest, but the culmination was less than satisfying considering the potential for impact.

Apparently, people loved this and thought it was fantastic. I thought it gradually lacked impact due to its improbability in the details, and would have preferred it in a fantasy/other-world setting in order to increase believability, rather than go for the 'realism' it attempted. And I wanted this story to carry heavy and genuine impact. But as I said at the start, not being so easily duped probably just goes to show my age, more than anything else.