I haven't yet watched the movie adaptation of this book; I decided to read the book first. While I'm usually inclined to prefer books over movies, because I've already seen the movie trailers for this particular book, I had some ingrained visual cues already running through my mind. I enjoyed the book, but I have a feeling in this case the movie will only enrich the story. I'll have to wait and see if that's true.
In the book, we meet Tish and Fonny, a young couple in love who have known each other since childhood. When the story opens, we find out that Fonny has been wrongly incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit, the nature of which is revealed about halfway through the book. That's bad enough in itself, but the timing couldn't be worse, as Tish has just learned she is pregnant. Tish's family is very loving and supportive of the young couple's romance and the pregnancy and they're doing everything they can to both support Tish and try to get Fonny out of prison. Fonny's family is more agitated and fragmented. His mother, in particular, is extremely religious and anguished about the whole situation.
This isn't just a book about a relationship and unplanned pregnancy: it's a portrait of black America in the sixties. That said, it's mind-boggling to realize that while things have improved a bit over the years, there is still rampant racism and mistrust of police and "the system" - often for good reason - because young, black men are still being wrongfully incarcerated in the present day.
It's the reason that reading books about different cultures and races is so important. It opens our eyes to the world around us. It's what strengthens our empathy and understanding of other people's experience. It's just incredibly disheartening that intolerance of others is still so pervasive in the present day. Words can hurt and they can heal. Unfortunately our world still has a lot of healing to do.
Judge the cover: 4/5
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