Review #25: Take It Back by Kia Abdullah

                                              

Somehow, as usual, I manage to read books that tackle issues that are ragingly current ones. This book is no different. A Caucasian, Disabled girl, is assaulted by 4 Muslim Boys. Massively current issues. The issues aside, this is what I thought. Please note this review has slight spoilers. Also, there are triggers in the book and probably in my review tbh, so please be careful!

Writing Style: 8/10
Storyline: 8/10
Ease of Reading: 7/10

I struggled with the scores on this one, I have absolutely mixed feelings about the book in general, even though it finished strong. 

As a disabled woman, I'm getting a bit sick of reading about "disfigured" female characters. It's as though authors try to find the most visible disability to make them seem more vulnerable. I'd like there to be other disabilities included in literature these days, not just the visible ones. That's not a criticism of this specific book though, I'm sure it was my fault for reading her book 3rd out of 3 books that i've now read and reviewed that contain a facial disfigurement. 

The set out of the book was good, but it took a while to get used to it. There were only 11 or 12 chapters, but they were very long. I half read, half listened to this book, and I think it worked more on Audible because of the multiple voices in the courtroom it set the feel of the trial out well. I also liked the fact that you didn't know the whole story until right at the very end, like you were actually a jury member

I liked that the author tackled both male and female characters of the ethnicities talked about in this story, but also the fact that the author didn't use ethnicity or colour of skin to show their guilt. Whilst she did raise many stereotypes, I thought Kia Abdullah quashed the stereotypes really well, by going into individuals' thoughts, actions and upbringing. 

There was an aspect in the book that didn't seem to have a place. I may have missed it, but Zara taking diazepam kind of confused me. Why was she taking it? I also found it slightly unbelievable that she had diazepam stashed away. These days, diazepam is REALLY hard to come by, even for spasms, so was Zara getting it from somewhere else? I'm just not sure where it fit in and why. 

I'll not spoil the ending, but I think it was a good ending. It could have gone further though, if the author wanted to, and I think it paves the way for a new kind of "Jury" story - She could write a whole cohort of books that gives you the feeling of being a juror (I would be reading every book!)

All in all a pretty strong book that could be improved on to be an epic book. 

Take care everyone,

Steph 💚