Review by Booklist Review
Jamaica, summer 1976. In Bromfield's (Hurricane Summer, 2021) dramatic, deeply sensual second novel, two friends struggle to stay connected after high school while an approaching election threatens to explode into civil war around them. Irie lives in the ghetto, where her Rastafarian father's record store is known for promoting reggae. She writes and sings her own songs, dreaming of making it big. Caste and wealth have elevated Jillian's lighter-skinned family high above Kingston's shantytowns. But Jilly is ambivalent about her arranged marriage into a political dynasty and attending Cambridge--because of her attraction to Irie. Their lives intersect and repel again and again once they act on their desire for each other, in a country where their love is a crime. After readers absorb the early infodumps and adjust to the heavy patois (a particularly effective element of the setting), they will be swept up into the intensity of life on the island, the shock of escalating and unpredictable violence, and the emotional clashes between personal freedom, family legacy, and survival that propel this tense, suspenseful novel.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In 1976 Jamaica, a forthcoming election between an egalitarian platform and a capitalist agenda sows civil unrest. Light-skinned teen Jilly, from the upper echelon of Jamaican society, reckons with a lack of agency when her parents arrange her marriage to the capitalist party leader's son. Jilly's best friend, dark-skinned Irie--a reggae songwriter with a knockout voice living in the "not-so-nice parts" of the island--forfeits her dreams to work alongside her family at their record shop. After a friend is murdered, Irie determines to follow her desires and accepts a performance gig at a dancehall party with Jilly in attendance. But a violent encounter with egalitarian soldiers and her family's disappearance throw Irie's life into further chaos; meanwhile, Jilly wrestles with her parents' involvement in the brewing oppression. While Jilly's development can sometimes feel low stakes in comparison to Irie's clear-sighted observations, their juxtaposition prompts compelling conversations surrounding class privilege, and their slow-burn romance heightens tensions. Bromfield (Hurricane Summer) depicts a harsh reality around predation of young women in Jamaica to craft a devastating and nuanced look at two teens' battle for freedom, hope, independence, and love. An author's note provides context about civil unrest in Jamaica. Ages 13--up. Agent: Emily Van Beek, Folio Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up--Bromfield, who narrated her debut, also voices her second novel. For audiences who might struggle with reading Caribbean patois in print, Bromfield's confident performance--seamlessly navigating between speech patterns and accents--is to be relished. Bromfield also sings, although repetition of the same lyrics becomes tiresome. Most frustrating is the lack of clear distinction between her two protagonists, who (unevenly) alternate chapters to reveal their polarized realities. In 1976 Jamaica, BFFs Irie and Jilly have just graduated high school to utterly diverging futures: Irie dreams of escaping the ghetto with her music, while wealth cages Cambridge-bound Jilly who's expected to marry into the island's reigning political family. Over their final summer together, friendship turns to forbidden love amid the dangers of a racialized, haves vs. have-nots, fatal revolution. VERDICT Little-known Jamaican history--colonialism, widespread corruption, the unifying power of reggae music--vibrantly enhance an intense teen romance.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The politically charged story of two girlfriends in 1970s Jamaica. Despite wholly dissimilar home lives, Irie Rivers and Jillian Casey are music-loving best friends at an elite Jamaican high school. A controversial scholarship from the new progressive government is the only way brown-skinned Irie from the Kingston slums can afford her education. Lighter-skinned Jilly's wealth and privilege come from her father's position in the conservative opposition party. But as the girls graduate and struggle with growing political tensions that influence their diverging paths, they also experience the complications and tensions of budding desires. Irie's father is a record shop owner at the center of reggae's rise as a voice for a generation of poor Black radicals opposing the status quo that Jilly's father upholds from the hills, where affluence goes hand in hand with elitism and anti-Blackness. Irie is becoming an impressive reggae singer in her own right, taking Jilly on risky, exciting late-night dance hall excursions. While politically motivated gang violence takes the lives of many in Irie's community, by the time sheltered Jilly discovers her own father's degree of responsibility for the death and suffering, personal and political issues may prove to be too much for the teens' relationship to overcome. Tragedy strikes in the buildup to a key election, as Jamaican history, provocative lyricism, and relatable characters form an effective foundation for this bittersweet queer love story. A richly intimate novel of rebellion, romance, and reggae. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
