Review by fridamadrid -- Mixed Blessings by J.M. Muse

[fridamadrid]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Mixed Blessings" by J.M. Muse.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Mixed Blessings: is race real?
J. M. Muse

If Mixed Blessing: is race real? had to be described in two words, they would definitely be thought-provoking.

Written by J.M. Muse, this book follows various story lines revolving around a racial war.

As I started reading the book, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly was not what the book is.

The first story line presented is about Kimberly, a Jewish Mexican American girl that visits Mexico in order to meet her family in Juárez.

Then comes minister Kublai Khan from the House of Jeremiah, who has a very odd plan to create change on an incredibly oppressed social configuration for black people.

The third main story line follows Star Mathews' journey as she tries to be elected as queen or part of the court companion to represent the Gardena community, struggling with the fact that she is half black and half Japanese, which makes her progress a little harder.

To me, the last big story line was the one involving Jeremy and Sidney, two black teenagers who suffer one of the clearest and worst cases of racism there can be.

It all starts with the U.S. census and its new policy of racial self identification and the reactions to this go along the whole story and are one of the causes of the massive event at the end of the book.

I really liked how the stories slowly merged in different moments of the book, finding a great way to make it a whole. At first, it felt like things didn't make sense but I could also feel that eventually, they would, and I was right. Most of the things came to place and became completely clear the more I read, however, there still were certain incidents that appeared to be incomplete. Traumatic episodes that weren't dealt with or talked about.

Another thing that was a little confusing was how extreme and weird some character's ideas were. I had a hard time trying to figure out whether the author's intention was to make it so dramatic and the characters were ok with it or not. As I said, it really made me think a lot while going through the bizarre ideas it proposed.

I believe this is a good book for people who are trying to get deeper education on race matters and aim to analyze complex aspects of racism and its effects. However, I wouldn't recommend it to people who are just getting started in their process of learning about race, because it has really confusing ideas that might be misleading if you don't already have a solid foundation of knowledge.

I rate Mixed Blessings: is race real? three out of four stars because it is a very interesting book and really well written, but I spotted a few typos and even though I think there was a fine balance between stories, I would have liked a bit more. It would have been nice if certain huge events were better dealt with, not just left behind, because it made it sort of unnatural, and overall the book could be a bit longer and it would still be good.

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Mixed Blessings
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[emidio125]

I found your review very insightful. You managed to present a good description of the book. And even though I haven't read, I was left with the overall information about the book just by reading your description. Gongratulations