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libraryalissa 's review for:
Dreamland Burning
by Jennifer Latham
What I liked:
- Reading about Tulsa’s race history. In the author’s note, the author mentions that Tulsans are just beginning to really talk about the history of race relations in Tulsa and what went down in 1921. I spent 8 years of my childhood there and only heard of all of it after I left, so I think this is an important conversation starter and the author clearly put a lot of research in.
- The plot kept me interested and I was sucked into the storyline, especially watching the truth slowly emerge at the end.
What I didn’t like:
- At times it felt like there was tokenism at play when it came to race and sexuality. Both of the main characters were privileged to some extent but biracial, and I felt that the author, especially as a white woman, missed the opportunity to really have a character grapple with the full extent of their whiteness within Tulsa’s history. Instead she chose to insert a lot of surface-level diversity which never felt integral to the story or fully explored. This is why #ownvoices are so important, because we can never use one story to represent all people in a group, but at least we can know that one story is an authentic reflection of one person’s lived experience.
- It felt like there was a simplified understanding of racism at play as well. One could argue that this is a young adult novel, but I think that makes this point even more important. The racist characters were shown as racist primarily through their use of the n word, or joining the kkk. The non-racist characters were shown primarily through their willingness to befriend and help black people. Again I feel like the book and it’s young adult readers could have benefited from a more nuanced understanding of racism and privilege.
Overall, the author took on a very difficult subject matter that benefited from being addressed and serves as a good conversation starter. This book could be followed up with books by Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, or Jason Reynolds. We could also probably use young adult novels where white characters are addressing their own understandings of race and racism in a more nuanced way.
- Reading about Tulsa’s race history. In the author’s note, the author mentions that Tulsans are just beginning to really talk about the history of race relations in Tulsa and what went down in 1921. I spent 8 years of my childhood there and only heard of all of it after I left, so I think this is an important conversation starter and the author clearly put a lot of research in.
- The plot kept me interested and I was sucked into the storyline, especially watching the truth slowly emerge at the end.
What I didn’t like:
- At times it felt like there was tokenism at play when it came to race and sexuality. Both of the main characters were privileged to some extent but biracial, and I felt that the author, especially as a white woman, missed the opportunity to really have a character grapple with the full extent of their whiteness within Tulsa’s history. Instead she chose to insert a lot of surface-level diversity which never felt integral to the story or fully explored. This is why #ownvoices are so important, because we can never use one story to represent all people in a group, but at least we can know that one story is an authentic reflection of one person’s lived experience.
- It felt like there was a simplified understanding of racism at play as well. One could argue that this is a young adult novel, but I think that makes this point even more important. The racist characters were shown as racist primarily through their use of the n word, or joining the kkk. The non-racist characters were shown primarily through their willingness to befriend and help black people. Again I feel like the book and it’s young adult readers could have benefited from a more nuanced understanding of racism and privilege.
Overall, the author took on a very difficult subject matter that benefited from being addressed and serves as a good conversation starter. This book could be followed up with books by Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, or Jason Reynolds. We could also probably use young adult novels where white characters are addressing their own understandings of race and racism in a more nuanced way.