The Stars & The Blackness Between Them Book Review

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝔹𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕞

Ｂｙ Ｊｕｎａｕｄａ Ｐｅｔｒｕｓ

𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍: 𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝟷𝟽 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟿 𝚋𝚢 𝙳𝚞𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜

ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛ | ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇᴍᴘᴏʀᴀʀʏ | ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ

ᴍʏ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ★★★★☆

Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus's bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both.

Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she's going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor's daughter. Audre's grandmother Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own) tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won't lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. "America have dey spirits too, believe me," she tells Audre.

Minneapolis. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels-about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that's plagued her all summer. Mabel's reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner.

Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer and suddenly it's Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future.

Junauda Petrus's debut brilliantly captures the distinctly lush and lyrical voices of Mabel and Audre as they conjure a love that is stronger than hatred, prison, and death and as vast as the blackness between the stars.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them is a book I don't think I'll ever overlook. How it made me feel, how it was composed-every little thing about it has a feeling that it was a blessing to this world that I wasn't deserving of encountering.

My first idea after completing was simply, "Gracious God." There are no different words for how I felt since this book was totally flawless. I don't have the foggiest idea how precisely to depict it, yet I teared up so often understanding it.

The book pursues two Black young ladies, Audre and Mabel, who must make sense of their place on the planet as both of their lives are changed definitely. Audre is constrained out of her home when her mom finds her mystery sweetheart, and when the two meet, they become companions and the sky is the limit from there

"Life is hard for we women because we strong and the world ain't wan' to love us for it."

It feels like this book opened up a well within me. It was such an enthusiastic understanding of knowledge, and once I began understanding it, it didn't release me. Not exclusively is simply the composition and exposition wonderfully done, yet simply how the writer handles certain things is ravishing as well-the completion of this book specifically made me let out a delicate "gracious" at its excellence

An excellent Sapphic romance between two Black girls navigating what it means to be Black in America. Together, the girls navigate high school and Mabel's terminal illness, falling into deep love with one another.

Written partly in dialect, with seasons depicted by zodiac signs and poetry, this is gorgeous prose and a deeply immersive story. I loved both of these girls deeply and know that this book is going to mean so much to so many Black girls who will see themselves in Mabel and Audra.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them was heavy, funny, sad, beautifully written, and real AF! This book has depth.

Petrus had elements of magical realism that added a whimsical element to a very serious book. She addresses LGBTQ+, but specifically lesbian relationships in the Black community, in the U.S., and Trinidad. It addresses coming out in a religious community, coming out to a culturally conservative black family, and LGBTQ+ clubs on high school campuses.

However, I would argue that this is not the main focus of the book. It is more than Audre and Mabel growing into their sexuality.

What I love about Audre and Mabel is you get to experience two kinds of black identities. Audre comes from a spiritual and Rastafari Trinidadian community. Her Grandma Queenie is a large influence in her life and is truly in tune with nature and spirituality. Mabel comes from a proud black American family. Her parents are "hip" and woke (kinda). Mabel's dad has a beautiful garden, Black Eden, where he grows all their food and where she enjoys staring at the stars.

The book also focuses on a black male falsely imprisoned and his journey through life on death row. I love these characters' use of astrology and the concept of past lives. It makes you consider what happened/happens to the soul after death.

This book truly changed my life its something i totally needed to read. Thanks to Book of the Month YA for bringing this book to my attention