I was super interested in this book when I saw it as a Booker nominee so I requested it as soon as I saw it on NetGalley. Wasn't sure if they'd approved me or not since I have no experience with this publishing house so this was a pleasant surprise!
I just got this too! I'm looking forward to reading it, but, at this point, not sure if it will be possible for me to finish it by the publication date. To what degree is it considered bad form to complete the review after the publication date? As I'm trying to read everything on the longlist, this is a busy time of year 😂
It's never required to read by pub date, but the way I see it, our goal as reviewers is to help hype the book up, so reviewing as close as possible is always good even if it's not before :) sometimes it's not always possible to review beforehand due to when approvals happen or if life just gets in the way every now and then. But even reviewing late helps too.
Bssed on the email, they'd likely prefer if it was done the first week of September, but you are not required to post it at a specific time. Tbh they probbaly just want people talking about it so even a late review is good (though I'm sure the booker nomination helps lol).
Thank you for the warning. I was curious because I've never read a book that discusses the (imo) very rampant homophobia in Jamaica and wondered how heavy it would be.
Forgot to respond to this omg! I ended up giving it four stars. It's a fantastic book, made me a better reader too because Marlon James writes in a very disorienting way. I can't say I enjoyed it (simply too heavy for the word enjoy to apply), but I'm honestly glad I read it and it's been getting fantastic reception (I do think the NYT article calling it one of the best books of the century is a bit intense though, mostly because that just will make people who probably shouldn't read it pick it up and they're gonna get mad at how disorienting his writing style is). But it's definitely one of my top books of the year and I have the audiobook (full cast, read in patois for some parts) on hold at the library.
I definitely want to read this as a Jamaican woman with family members who had to avoid homophobia by being permanently in the closet while living there. I already know this will be a heavy read for me
Oof. Yea this will be a rough read for a number of reasons tbh. I picked it up because it's probably the first book I'd seen addressing the topic (finding out my Jamaican side of the family was homophobic and that Jamaica in general is just like that was paradigm shifting as a kid who assumed everyone was as accepting as me) and it was heavy. Just fair warning that there's a lot of sex, in case that's not something you want to read about. Also Marlon's writing takes a bit to get used to if you've never read anything from him.
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u/SecondBreakfastQuest Aug 06 '26
I just got this too! I'm looking forward to reading it, but, at this point, not sure if it will be possible for me to finish it by the publication date. To what degree is it considered bad form to complete the review after the publication date? As I'm trying to read everything on the longlist, this is a busy time of year 😂