Seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner is one of two Black girls in her country club community and the only one with Black parents. Her best friend, Cherish Whitman, adopted by a white, wealthy family, is something Farrah likes to call WGS–White Girl Spoiled. With Brianne and Jerry Whitman as parents, Cherish is given the kind of adoration and coddling that even upper-class Black parents can’t seem to afford–and it creates a dissonance in her best friend that Farrah can exploit. When her own family is unexpectedly confronted with foreclosure, the calculating Farrah is determined to reassert the control she’s convinced she’s always had over her life by staying with Cherish, the only person she loves–even when she hates her.
As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them–if they didn’t think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household–debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish’s hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah–it’s nothing she can’t handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it’s anyone’s guess who is really in control.
Told in Farrah’s chilling, unforgettable voice and weaving in searing commentary on race and class, this slow-burn social horror will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
“Being a spoiled white girl when you’re Black is literally my favorite thing ever. It confuses very literally everyone.” “That’s the only reason I put up with it.”
Polite society is a misnomer.
She’s the only person I still love when I hate her.
Whatever else you are, you’re still a Black girl. One day you’ll know how impossible it is to tell the difference between personalized terror aimed straight at you, and good ole run-of-the-mill systemic prejudice.
Cherish was a spoiled white girl who also happened to be Black, and it meant that the consequence of coddling, the incompetence it breeds, was dangerous.
My Review:
It has been over a day since I finished reading this one and I am quite conflicted and have been stewing and unable to start another book while I ruminate. I vacillated while reading but just couldn’t grasp all that was going on in this disturbing, multi-faceted, and complex tale. I occasionally felt lost, and frequently addled and confused while trying to understand the logic and symbolism the characters employed. And I wasn’t the only one as they were confusing and confounding each other as well.
There was a surfeit of personality disorders, anger, smoldering resentment, and an annoying sense of entitlement, as well as significant features of mental illness to wade through. I was invested and motivated, yet I couldn’t put all the pieces together, it was beyond my plane of experience or comprehension. Regardless, the various characters’ level of sociopathy was chilling and distressing.
I still can’t settle on whom I despise more, as every single one of them was a source of deep disappointment to me in the end. There were no heroes in this tale but quite a few victims. I must surrender and move on, yet I give the author her due and respect her process and word prowess. Ms. Morrow kept me on edge, off-balance, and intrigued.
Her adult debut, MEM, was an ABA 2018 Indies Introduce pick, and a June Indie Next pick, and was featured/reviewed in Locus Magazine, the LA Times, Buzzfeed, Book Riot, Bustle, and Tor.com, among others.
She was editor and contributor to TAKE THE MIC: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance, which was released with AAL/Scholastic in October 2019.
WOW this sounds powerful, interesting, and a little disturbing … might have to give it a try.
This one is on my TBR list and I am really glad to get your opinion about it. The synopsis and your review have intrigued me all the more!
This sounds like a great read.
Doesn’t sound like your kind of read as it sounds too scary for you. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it. Great review.
Loved those quotes you picked (and I admire those skills of yours.. I either end up marking the whole book or avoid it completely!)..