Energetic and deeply satisfying ... It’s a thorny and nuanced conversation, but Boryga handles it judiciously. His prose is animated and active; his character writing is a crowning achievement ... Boryga’s critiques are uncomfortable, and entirely necessary.
Superbly written, this is a darkly funny, searing exposé of the contemporary appetite for trauma narratives and the ill-informed responses of many institutions to issues of racial justice.
Throughout, Boryga plays his dynamic central duo against each other to striking effect. This foray into the uses and misuses of victimhood bears fruit.
Boryga is relentlessly superficial in his depiction of Javi, whose supposed talent is never on display ... Lacking in convincing moments—Javi’s inevitable comeuppance is dropped late like a cement shoe—the novel has both an unreliable narrator and an unreliable author.
