Reading: Riot Baby (195/365)
Jul. 14th, 2021 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
white_hartI'm not sure I would have picked up Tochi Onyebuchi's novella Riot Baby if I wasn't working my way through all of the Hugo fiction nominees (apart from Best Series); a novella about riots, police brutality, incarceration and the experience of being Black in contemporary America sounded like something that, however well-written and worthwhile it might be, would be difficult and harrowing and more challenging than I could handle. I'm very glad that the nomination pushed me to read it, because it's a fantastic book.
Riot Baby is the story of Ella, who displays mysterious psychic powers from an early age, and her brother Kev, the "riot baby" of the title, born while the 1992 LA riots raged outside. As a child, Ella can see people's futures, and through her eyes we see just how few of the boys her age in South Central LA will make it to adulthood. As she grows older, she also develops the ability to read minds and influence others' thoughts and perceptions, telekinetic powers and the ability to teleport, but however much she tries to use her powers to keep her brother safe, his life follows the path of so many young Black men, through casual police brutality to incarceration and then parole in a society just a step or two away from where we currently are, with more technology pressed into service by the police to surveil and control the Black population.
The narrative, alternating between Ella and Kev's point of view, is vibrant and immediate; despite dialect and cultural differences, I found it accessible and utterly engaging. It's certainly not a novella that's free of pain and suffering, but it isn't about pain and suffering; it's about anger, and resistance, and connection, and ultimately about hope, even in the darkest times. I found it to be an amazing, compelling read, and I absolutely loved it.
Riot Baby is the story of Ella, who displays mysterious psychic powers from an early age, and her brother Kev, the "riot baby" of the title, born while the 1992 LA riots raged outside. As a child, Ella can see people's futures, and through her eyes we see just how few of the boys her age in South Central LA will make it to adulthood. As she grows older, she also develops the ability to read minds and influence others' thoughts and perceptions, telekinetic powers and the ability to teleport, but however much she tries to use her powers to keep her brother safe, his life follows the path of so many young Black men, through casual police brutality to incarceration and then parole in a society just a step or two away from where we currently are, with more technology pressed into service by the police to surveil and control the Black population.
The narrative, alternating between Ella and Kev's point of view, is vibrant and immediate; despite dialect and cultural differences, I found it accessible and utterly engaging. It's certainly not a novella that's free of pain and suffering, but it isn't about pain and suffering; it's about anger, and resistance, and connection, and ultimately about hope, even in the darkest times. I found it to be an amazing, compelling read, and I absolutely loved it.
