Review by Booklist Review
Brown's semi-autobiographical novel is a powerful and vulnerable recounting of a first-generation university student trying to navigate the overwhelming white spaces at an Ivy League institution. First-year Echo has graduated top of her class at her Cleveland high school and has her eyes set on Dartmouth. Despite the naysayers who encourage her to stay closer to home, Echo is accepted to Dartmouth. She is excited for the challenge, and for the whimsical freshman year that the brochures and flyers have promised. Soon, though, she realizes she was sold a false narrative. Although she is an incredibly bright student by her high school's standards, she is woefully behind in her academic studies and has difficulty finding comfort in a student body that alienates her. Brown paints a realistic portrait touched with fantasy in this story of a young girl struggling to adapt to a new culture while also acknowledging the harsh truth of privilege and how it impacts academic success. Although the inclusion of magic can be dizzying at times, those fantasy elements successfully explore generational trauma with a vulnerable perspective on anti-Blackness and self-worth. This meaningful account will speak to many students who are both eager about and burdened by being their family's First.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Brown's (Black Girl Unlimited) autobiographical sophomore novel weaves magical realism and mentions of Star Wars mythology into the collegiate experience of Echo, a Black student whose aim to succeed at Dartmouth becomes a quest to overcome personal trauma and broad cosmic forces. Working-class Echo, a Cleveland native, hopes to live the life promised in Ivy League brochures, but encounters anti-Blackness and professors with low expectations of her on the largely wealthy and white campus; she also worries about family back home, where "a day is just a bookmark between tragedies." After falling for white junior Bryce and with him attending the annual performance of a hypnotist who calls her "the Chosen One," Echo begins seeing twisting portals on walls and having visions that keep coming true. When a harrowing sight in the woods uproots buried personal and generational trauma, Echo starts on a path toward unlocking her true calling. Though the imaginative story's magical elements take a while to hit their stride, Echo's internality is rife with tender ruminations--on independence, fear of failure, and mental health--explored with vigor alongside themes of healing, forgiveness, and the human need to be and feel loved. Ages 14--up. Agent: Janine Kamouh, WME. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A first-generation college student finds her footing and her power in a strange new world. Echo Brown has never lived in a place so White, so wealthy, or so foreign. The 19-year-old first-year college student cannot seem to find her place at Dartmouth. Back home in Cleveland, everyone was the same: Black and working class like her and looking for a better life. She and new Black college friends Earnell and Kelicia do their best to support one another in an alien environment. They understand each other's struggles and the immense pressure from everyone back home to succeed. After her White Christian crush, Bryce, invites her to attend a hypnotist's show and she is brought on stage, Echo begins to experience the world differently. Portals appear before her, rooms rearrange themselves, demolished buildings are suddenly standing--and no one else notices. Echo worries that the stress of campus life is chipping away at her sanity. The line between reality and her visions continues to blur, Echo's grades start slipping, and she stands to lose everything she's worked for. Her journey is long and winding, but eventually she comes to a place of peace. The poetic and supernatural elements of the novel muddy the storytelling at times, and it teeters between suspense and confusion. However, Echo herself is a well-defined character. A meandering odyssey of hope. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
