Jessie's Reviews > Black Girls Must Die Exhausted

This book, about a young woman pursuing a balance between career, family, and fertility (with a ticking clock) had a real Gabrielle Union movie circa late 90’s/early 2000’s vibe. That was who I pictured as the narrator. This isn’t my usual genre, and I think I read this expecting something a bit different or a bit more. Despite being well written it followed a predictable and normative narrative. Three girlfriends were not actually that nice to each other, and there was a lot of snark about bigger bodies. This was not the type of book where the shortcomings of the narrator were about creating a true character (good writing often means unlikeable or imperfect people)- Tabby was definitely supposed to be a relatable and aspirational character - so maybe she could have been a bit less judgemental and superficial at times? There was some pretty heavy moralizing happening around infidelity, jealousy, family dysfunction, etc. I think that characters fell into tropes more than they became individuals to me. The saving grace for me was that, despite the length of time that was spent with drinking and pining and going in circles (this book was long, too long!!), things were able to remain unresolved and a bit messy at the end that indicated some growth. I would probably go see this in the theatres were it a movie, and I would probably roll my eyes a few times at the rigidity of it’s vision for Black womanhood. Thanks @netgalley for the ARC, opinions are my own.