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A review by jaduhluhdabooks
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Re-read 2024… and it’s STILL the most perfect book I’ve ever read. Ugh. No one does real, raw, and romance like my girl Kennedy.
************************************
2023 Review:
It might actually be the most perfect book I’ve read to date.
Kennedy’s writing is exceptionally beautiful. The way that she captures grief and writes your own narratives of pain onto paper, I mean, she gave me language for so much of my battlings, with life, depression, hope, desire, and joy.
Yasmen, is such a dynamic character that we get to see her woven back together after life altering destruction and the reality of saving yourself and wanting to keep intact the life you had before is REAL. But depression makes us sacrifice, especially if we’re fighting to live. In those moments, us choosing to remain alive is a victory, even if it cost us some part of our old selves. Our old lives.
Si, ugh - I mean. The way that Kennedy rips a part the convoluted narrative of mental health in the Black community, especially surrounding Black men. The need for therapy and how essential it can be to name, feel, and experience your emotions, instead of keeping them bottled and assuming you can just pray then away or ignore them. It’s a hard truth to tackle, but one Kennedy does exceptionally well by examining Kassim, Josiah, and Yasmen. As well as how important it can be to have a therapist who looks like you and has similar generational experiences that can be understood at a level maybe another wouldn’t be able to.
The pacing of this books is incredible. I felt as if I was truly in these grueling two years with the Ward family. From the complexity of co parenting, to managing new relationships when your ex-partner starts dating again, to the honesty you have to maintain with yourself and your children on all levels and the way that you NEED people, community, to help sustain what is changing and what has been preserved.
I just, I could sit and think about this book for AGES. I loved every second of it. From the Black excellence to the Black girl magic and displays of Black boy joy, to the art of friendship, and truth of finding your way back to yourself, and to rebuilding broken things, into stronger and healthier bonds.
It was magnificent. Ugh 🥹🤧
************************************
2023 Review:
It might actually be the most perfect book I’ve read to date.
Kennedy’s writing is exceptionally beautiful. The way that she captures grief and writes your own narratives of pain onto paper, I mean, she gave me language for so much of my battlings, with life, depression, hope, desire, and joy.
Yasmen, is such a dynamic character that we get to see her woven back together after life altering destruction and the reality of saving yourself and wanting to keep intact the life you had before is REAL. But depression makes us sacrifice, especially if we’re fighting to live. In those moments, us choosing to remain alive is a victory, even if it cost us some part of our old selves. Our old lives.
Si, ugh - I mean. The way that Kennedy rips a part the convoluted narrative of mental health in the Black community, especially surrounding Black men. The need for therapy and how essential it can be to name, feel, and experience your emotions, instead of keeping them bottled and assuming you can just pray then away or ignore them. It’s a hard truth to tackle, but one Kennedy does exceptionally well by examining Kassim, Josiah, and Yasmen. As well as how important it can be to have a therapist who looks like you and has similar generational experiences that can be understood at a level maybe another wouldn’t be able to.
The pacing of this books is incredible. I felt as if I was truly in these grueling two years with the Ward family. From the complexity of co parenting, to managing new relationships when your ex-partner starts dating again, to the honesty you have to maintain with yourself and your children on all levels and the way that you NEED people, community, to help sustain what is changing and what has been preserved.
I just, I could sit and think about this book for AGES. I loved every second of it. From the Black excellence to the Black girl magic and displays of Black boy joy, to the art of friendship, and truth of finding your way back to yourself, and to rebuilding broken things, into stronger and healthier bonds.
It was magnificent. Ugh 🥹🤧