Review: It All Comes Down to This

It All Comes Down to This by Karen English
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A quiet, thoughtful coming of age book that addresses racism and classism, through the lens of 12-year old Sophie, who is from a very comfortable upper middle class family that has just become one of the first black families in their new neighborhood in the LA suburbs in 1965.

Since they had previously lived in majority black middle-class neighborhoods and not in the South, Sophie and her sister Lily have been shielded from racism most of their lives, but now they begin to experience it in their mostly white neighborhood. Sophie and Lily begin to realize just how sheltered and privileged they are, after befriending their housekeeper's son Nathan whose experiences being pulled over for no other reason than having the very light-skinned Lily in his car, who the cops had mistaken for being white, and being arrested for no reason during the riots in his Watts neighborhood opened their eyes.

The books also shows classism, in how Sophie's mother saw herself as so different and better than most other black people who had less money, and shows the struggle children can feel when torn between wanting to follow their own path, but not wanting to disappoint their parents who dream of them having things easier and better than they did, and feeling obligated to fulfill some of their parents' dreams because they weren't able to. I felt Nathan was very unfair in his expectations of Lily and judgmental attitude about her choice and in not even trying to understand.

I've seen this book compared to works of Rita Williams-Garcia, but that comparison doesn't quite fit in my opinion. Rita Williams-Garcia's books have a bit more action, humor, and lively dialogue, and characters that have stronger personalities and more spunk. This book is more thoughtful, with characters that are more quiet, thoughtful, and a bit subdued or even cool and aloof. The quiet thoughtfulness reminds me more of Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming.

I had a little trouble rating this one because I just didn't quite enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to. But I decided that came down to personal taste more than there being anything wrong with the book itself, and I just had slightly different expectations. But it has a very unique voice and perspective that isn't offered by any other book I know of, and deserves a place on the shelf.

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