Member Reviews
A well-crafted story with plenty to appreciate. The pacing, characters, and plot twists kept me interested throughout. I'm looking forward to seeing how readers respond once it's released!
I'm sorry to say, this was very disappointing. Other reviewers have dived into the issues with the plot in far more detail than I am willing to - safe to say this wasn't for me.
There was so much buzz about this book before release, but most of the reviews I've read so far have been underwhelmed and even disappointed by the concept. One of Our Kind incites discussion, that's for sure, particularly around the main character, Jasmyn who's polarising. I found the internalised racism uncomfortable to read to the extent that the point was almost lost on me.
Liberty, California is billed as a Black utopia, a place where brown skin is the default and the residents can see themselves represented in government, sports and the arts. It is the kind of privileged enclave which has historically been closed to people like Jasmyn and King Williams, and they cannot believe that their sons will have the opportunity to grow up in a place where the colour of their skin will neither define nor restrict them.
Like her husband, Jasmyn is awestruck by the outrageous opulence that welcomes them, but she is also discomfited. She had been sure that she'd find herself surrounded by friends and neighbours as passionate about fighting for racial equality in the world beyond Liberty's limits as she is, but her emotional reaction to yet another killing of an unarmed Black man by police seems to make the other mothers at the school gate uncomfortable, and her efforts to start a local Black Lives Matter chapter are rebuffed with flimsy excuses. Jasmyn can't shake the sense that something is very wrong in Liberty, but what? And should she stay and fight for what matters to her from the inside, or get out while she has the chance?
This dilemma mirrors the choice Jasmyn feels she has to make when they decide to move to Liberty initially. A dedicated lawyer, she is torn between wanting to stay and fight for the community she has grown up in - abhorring the idea that she is turning her back on her people as soon as she gets a taste of money and privilege - and the lure of her sons growing up surrounded by Black excellence, a place in which they will 'flourish, secure in the knowledge of their own beauty and self-worth', as well as being free from discrimination and persecution. The choice is a no-brainer for her husband, who settles into Liberty life without a second thought, but Jasmyn's conflict provides the narrative engine for a taut dystopian thriller with shades of Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out and Ira Levin's 1972 novel The Stepford Wives.
The problem with the characterisation of Jasmyn - and with the central conceit of the novel - is that it is rooted in the idea that to be Black in America is to experience incessant trauma and tragedy from birth till death; to be constantly seeking respite from living as a Black person. As a white reader, I don't feel too comfortable opining on whether or not this is realistic, but I can certainly see why some Black readers have decried this book for its negative portrayal of Blackness, ignoring the joy and pride which many of them feel. The book's final twist is outrageous, and it is surely a deliberate decision made by author Nicola Yoon to shock and provoke, as the alternative - that she wants to draw the reader to the conclusion that racism can only be solved by Black people no longer being Black - is truly wild.
At times the social commentary is thoughtful. My husband is Black and we have two young daughters so, when choosing a nursery and school, we have had to make deliberate choices about the environment which we felt would celebrate our children's heritage, and where they would not feel like outsiders because of it. Thus, I could empathise with Jasmyn's struggle to know what the best decision was for her family. However, in other instances, it feels like the author is trying to cram in as many issues as possible - such as colourism and the influence of Western beauty ideals on Black women - but doesn't take the time to really interrogate them and their origins. This results in these topics being mentioned in throwaway remarks or in Jasmyn's inner monologue, and often this comes off as Jasmyn sneering dismissively at the Black people she sees as beholden to the aesthetics of whiteness - when she should really be taking issue with why they are so ingrained in the first place. Indeed, Jasmyn first begins to notice that something is off in Liberty because her new neighbours don't respond to an episode of racially motivated violence in the only way she deems correct; because the reader experiences the events of the novel through Jasmyn's eyes, it can be difficult not to fall into line with her strident convictions about how people should behave.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.
An interesting premise but i struggled with the characters and writing style. Yoon painted a very clear plot from the get go, I just feel like the writing didn’t allign with the plot? There seemed to be a disconnect and some of it was very disjointed to read, although I did enjoy the main character.
I found this so difficult to read that I barely got to the end. Nicola Yoon's cautionary tale of a Black utopian community with a dark secret means well, I'm sure, but I found that the delivery of its message was so confused that it became counter-productive. Jasmyn and King Williams move to the Black-majority town of Liberty ahead of the birth of their second child in the hope that it will provide a safe, nurturing environment away from the strains and dangers in other parts of America. Jasmyn is unsure, dedicated as she is to Black activism and justice and feels that she is betraying her morals and her people if she chooses comfort and safety. She soon finds herself uncomfortable in the new community where they seem largely uninterested in the perils facing other Black Americans. They are all also strangely light-skinned. And this is where the wheels start to come off. I don't believe that Yoon intended her work to be read a colourist and the reality of what is happening in Liberty is supposed to show that it isn't, but even though what is happening in Liberty is obvious to the reader from the start (though I think there was supposed to be some mystery) Jasmyn's constant mental notation of the shade of her neighbours and the way this links to their disinterest in civil justice is always going conjure the idea that the lighter-skinned don't really experience Blackness and here, that they don't, can't or won't fully sympathise with the darker-skinned experience. It is painful to read, even if it is unintentional. There is also the fact that Jasmyn's sense of Black identity is inextricable from suffering, as if experiencing any joy as a black American is a betrayal when there is so much injustice and pain, it is a very moralistic and flat understanding and is another thing that makes Jasmyn unsympathetic. She incredibly judgmental and entirely certain of her ability to understand a person based on a brief meetings and, often, reference to their "shade". Again, I think this is more a lack of subtlety and nuance in the writing than a reflection of Yoon's intentions or beliefs but it is incredibly jarring. The hyperbole built into dystopian writing can lead to this unless very carefully managed and unfortunately the real message is lost in the heavy-handedness of the telling. As a white reader I was relieved to find that my reservations appeared in lots of reviews and it's a shame, because handled better there is no reason why this couldn't have powerful story.
I loved the pitch for One of Our Kind, Nicola Yoon's adult debut: it was billed as The Stepford Wives meets Get Out. But while I think there are some potentially interesting ideas here, something went very wrong in the writing of it. One of Our Kind follows Jasmyn, a public defender who moves with her husband and son to an all-Black community in a suburb of Los Angeles. The Liberty community is wealthy, glossy, happy and obsessed with self-care, and Jasmyn doesn't fit in - nobody seems to share her concerns about institutional racism and police violence. Is something wrong in Liberty? So far, so Stepford Wives - and indeed, the majority of this novel sticks so closely to the way that Ira Levin's original plot plays out that it feels intensely lazy. But One of Our Kind not only misunderstands what makes The Stepford Wives such a hauntingly tense and brilliant horror novel but goes even more badly wrong.
In short, as many Black women have already said better than I can (check out Casey's review and Bri's review on Goodreads), the problem with this novel is Jasmyn. She is entirely defined by her focus on Black trauma and racism. She writes off other Black women if they don't have natural hair, don't watch videos of police violence against Black people or dare to take any time for themselves rather than participating full-time in the struggle. In short, she feels like she was written by somebody who wanted to mock and belittle Black activism and Black fear rather than somebody who wants to take it seriously, as Yoon clearly does. The only thing I can think to compare it to is the way that some terrible thriller writers depict evil environmental activists who are selfishly obsessed with the environment and for some reason care about the future of humanity rather than just themselves. It's actually that bad.
I tried so hard to read Jasmyn as a satire but it's obviously not Yoon's intention. This becomes increasingly obvious as the book continues, because things get even worse. The twist is pretty obvious, but, if we are primed to read Jasmyn as unreliable and problematic, it starts feeling like the book is promoting this as a reasonable choice, which again, is clearly not what Yoon wants to say. This is also where the thoughtless copying of the plot beats of The Stepford Wives comes back to bite her. The Stepford Wives works because it tapped into the primal fears of both men and women on the cusp of second-wave feminism. The men in the novel fear being made obsolete by their independent wives. The women in the novel fear following the paths of the women they see around them and collapsing suddenly into domesticity, becoming the trapped housewives that Betty Friedan wrote about in The Feminine Mystique, published eight years before The Stepford Wives. It's terrifying because, for the female characters, their fears come true in the most literal way.
Of course, there was potential for Yoon to do what she's said she wanted to do in One of Our Kind, and write a version of Stepford that is about race, but in order to do that, she needed to deviate further from her template. We know that her characters rightly fear the racist society they live in, and it makes sense that some of them are so traumatised that they seek the Libertyford solution, but because the power dynamics are obviously different between the Black couples in this novel, it just doesn't work if we keep the same plot.
In short, I wish this had been written by a much better writer, and I strongly recommend reading the reviews above, which dig into the harmful anti-blackness of this novel.
This was Nicola yoons first adult book and it did not disappoint. It was a really insightful read with a lot of social commentary on racism. Although it wasn’t my type of book, it may be of appeal to those who enjoy books a little different, with a different take on the typical social commentary style book. This felt almost dystopian.
Loved this. So good. An excellent read. Such well developed characters and a fabulous plot. I would use in the classroom and recommend to friends and family.
Nicola Yoon is the Queen of crafted heartfelt relationships. Her characters breathe life off the page time and time again. Excellence.
Jasmyn and Kingston Williams are excited to move into their new home in the suburb of Liberty on the outskirts of LA. The affluent suburb is 100% black, including all employees. The couple sees this as a safe environment in which to raise their young son. Once settled Jasmyn begins to have apprehensions.
One Of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon is a powerful tale of racism in America. Told against a backdrop of widely publicised police shootings of black men, we meet Jasmyn Williams, an attorney who works in the public defender's office. Through Jasmyn we are given a glimpse of the fear someone who is black lives with every day in America. Not being black, or from the USA, it is difficult to truly comprehend the level of racism. As Jasmyn recounts some of the incidents she, or people she knows, has had to deal with I felt shocked, saddened and angry.
When the young family first move to Liberty, not everything feels quite right. I was getting a "Stepford Wives" vibe initially and this slightly dystopian feeling lingers throughout the novel. The centrepiece of the suburb is the Wellness Center and once we are offered a glimpse inside you begin to wonder if we are contending with a cult of some type, particularly as Jasmyn's husband becomes obsessed with the place.
Central to the story is the police shooting of a black family in a car elsewhere in LA. The father is killed and the young daughter ends up in intensive care. Jasmyn is appalled that the residents of Liberty are not as affected by the incident as she is. All of this adds to the unsettled feeling she has and increases the sense of unease the reader feels.
Jasmyn becomes more and more concerned as she digs deeper, especially as her husband seems to be falling even more under the thrall of the Wellness Center and its leaders. The conclusion is gripping, and one that you might guess at, but is still shocking when all is revealed. This is a book I would recommend everyone to read. Not only is it ideal for a book group as it will throw up a wide range of discussion topics, I also feel that the message it contains is one we need to be reminded of regularly.
I’ve read a couple of this authors YA work before and loved them so thought I’d give this a go.
Nothing much happens throughout the story at all, I got to the last 10% and the ending was very odd and unsettling. I’m not sure what the author was trying to achieve with this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me at all.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an. ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I found this very interesting, but the scientific concepts around turning a black person into a white person are ridiculous and totally unbelievable. The fact of black people wanting to turn white because of the shocking prejudice against them is a severe indictment of society in the USA. It's not perfect by any means in the UK, but I like to think it's better. What happened to Jasmyn was tragic, and, as the author intended, it will inspire conversations.
Such a sinister suspenseful read. You wanted to reach into the book and haul Jasmyn away from this place with its creepy spa and general Bad Vibes. A really gripping storyline with an absolute sucker punch of an ending too. Highly recommend.
Before you read my review, I'd like to say that I am not a POC, and I do not suffer from the racial injustices in this world and that I will never understand how that feels.
When Jasmyn Williams and her husband King find out they're pregnant for the second time, they decide to move their family to the planned Black utopia, Liberty. King settles in straight away, embracing the utopia of Liberty and the wellness centre that's the heart of the community. But Jasmyn can't seem to make the place feel like home, no one else feels the same as she does about the effects of racial inequality and the effects that's having on the outside communities they'd all rather spend their time at the wellness centre getting expensive treatments. When Jasmyn decides to do some digging around on what Liberty really is, she stumbles across a secret, one that won't only affect her family but also everything she believes in.
This book is pretty much stepford wives, and instead of it being gender related, it's race. I'm really disappointed as I feel this could've been so much better if Jasmyn was a nicer character. She continually goes on about racial injustice and how horrible people are towards her, but she spends all her time criticising everyone around her for their skin tone and how they wear their hair. The way she is to her friends isn't very nice either when she finds out her best friend is finally pregnant she tells her there's a high chance she'll die during child birth and I can't get behind a woman like th Her husband seemed to be full of red flags, and if I'd been her, I would've packed up my son and ran as far away from Liberty as possible. I felt like this book gave me a really weird feeling throughout, and I just didn't find it that enjoyable.
‘One of Our Kind’ is Nicola Yoon’s first adult novel. I had to request the ARC after loving all her YA books, I had high hopes! The blurb kinda gives off the vibes of ‘Q’, almost like a dystopian novel with elements of reality and that doesn’t seem too far off from real life. Unfortunately, this didn’t meet my expectations. I understand the intentions of the book and it’s raising awareness of racial injustice and the impacts these events have on POC mentally, but it felt as though it could have been better thought out and planned.
The main character, Jasmyn, was very judgemental of everyone around her (though it was sometimes justified), and came across as very self-righteous. It felt as though her husband, King, was gas-lighting her quite often and it annoyed me that she never called him out on it despite being quick to call out literally everyone else?
The plot was really fast-paced, to the point where it felt really rushed. There were elements that could have been a much larger focus in the story, such as delving deeper into how the Wellness Centre actually ‘helped’ people, how King was influenced to move to Liberty and take part in their cult-like meetings… It’s hard to describe how this book fell flat for me, without including spoilers. The ending particularly was rushed and felt unplanned, like the story could easily have spanned another 100 pages and been better!
Overall, it was an interesting premise but executed badly. It’s definitely worth exploring other reviews for this book, especially from people of colour, as there are a few on Goodreads which identify the book as troubling.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book all the same.
I loved Stepford Wives and Get Out so I knew this book would be the one for me, it was a very unsettling read overall.
I read Ira Levin's brilliant story, The Stepford Wives, several years ago, but I can still remember what an impact the novel made on me. It was saying something serious about the backlash against feminism (a horror story indeed), and I found it insulting for example, that the movie adaptation featuring Nicole Kidman so utterly failed to do the book justice.
For anyone who has read that book, the events in Nicola Yoon's story will not come as a surprise. The value added in her novel lies in its timely portrayal of issues of African American identity, institutionalized racism and police violence against POC in America today.
But I have to say I was disappointed not to see the author give credit where it's due. While Levin's story focused on the issue of gender equality or lack thereof, this novel portrays a somewhat similar set of issues in its storytelling that focuses on events seen through a racial inequality lens.
This book owes a huge debt to
Levin's novel, and while I have no problem with Yoon taking inspiration plot-related inspiration from that story, I would have liked to see more originality in the adaptation of the storyline, rather than relying on the context-specific issues around racism and Black Lives Matter to differentiate the two books. I will still give it 4 stars - primarily because the issues it addresses are important, and it was well-written.