Much like the rest of McBride's work, this collection of short stories is funny, sad and cleverly constructed. It felt like some of the stories could be pushed into novellas, especially Mr P.

While I love love love Jesmyn Ward's lyrical pace, the slow winding way she structures her sentences so you can almost feel the stillness of the bayou, it's also repetitive. In addition, the plot line reminded me a little bit of Delicious Food. Still a fantastic read but feels like it could be longer or more cohesively structured?

What I enjoyed most was the way the authors drew connections between past and present legal cases and delved into legal socialism, or the the way prejudices in the legal system infiltrate social circles and inspire certain behaviors and mindsets. In particular, I liked how the authors traced historical laws against nonblack POC such as Asian Americans as the foundation for present racial-based laws pointing to consistent inability of the US judicial system to correct its racial predilections. The stats in this collection of essays gets repetitive. And for good reason, they are horrifying and necessary to point out again and again, just like it's horrifying that a book like this has to be written over and over again.

Like all of Coates's work, it's maudlin, science and sociology designed to pull at the heart strings. And like all his work, it succeeds even if dumb to its own self fulfilling critiques.

I loved this book toward the end, especially about the mother’s stay in a detention camp. Would have loved to seen more about her than the asinine protagonist.

The stories in here are intricate, empathetic and honest. I’ve never read a better immigrant experience , one recounted with all the pain, confusion and joy.

Honesty very difficult to stop reading, though the similarities in the stories themselves are heart wrenching. The look at the macro and microscopic impacts of the disastrous educational policies on Canadian indigenous children and families is incredible.

Funny, heart warming as always, fills you up like a good bowl of stew.

Absolutely beautiful, absolutely terrifying and absolutely painful to read, each layer of the story piles on more suffering and horror, but, due to the strong prosaic writing, it is hard to look away.