American Street by Ibi Zoboi

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book which I read for #2jennsbookclub in May & #yearofya Debut Authors topic for March broke my heart. After finishing The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, the shooting in this book devastated me. As a reader, I rooted for Fabiola's life in Detroit along side her mother. But her mother is detained at the airport & sent to NJ with no resolution in sight. Even though Fabiola wants to care for her aunt and 3 cousins, when she arrives at American Street, they are involved in their lives and Fabiola is left to figure things out for herself and that is just a real shame. When will Fabiola see her mother, why does Tray hit Donna, what will she tell the Detective to get her mother back to Detroit? The suspense, loneliness, violence, greed, and secrets all spell doom for Fabiola and her 3 Bees cousins. I loved Fabiola's Haitian culture, beliefs, and her native religion and how it sustained her but I ached for the mother she so needed, the American world & family that let her down, and the harshness of living between two worlds. A tough read, teens will love this urban fiction and diverse characters.

View all my reviews