"He didn't just look at her, he saw her. He didn't just listen to her, he heard her. He made her feel like she mattered. Despite everything she'd told him about her past, the things she'd done, accidental or not..."
Notting Hill Carnival is a very short guilty pleasure read. But since this is Black History Month, I thought I'd immerse my book blog in the annual celebration of black history. So, for this month I will be sharing with you books only from black authors, with black protagonists or books about black history. So let's dive in!
As I said, this is a concise book. It's only 102 pages, but it is part of a fantastic initiative which prides itself on getting people more engaged with reading. Quick Reads is part of The Reading Agency; a national charity tackling life's big challenges through the proven power of reading. So contributing to such an influential charity is worth it.
This book is what it says on the cover; West Side Story and since Romeo and Juliet inspired West Side Story, you can see its influences in this book too. Towards the end, a fight breaks out between the rival gangs. Our male lead, Apollo, is nowhere to be seen as his twin sister receives a life-threatening injury (similar to Juliet and her cousin), in part due to our female lead, Sapphire (just like Romeo and his mistake). I found it interesting how the influence of these stories intertwined with one featuring a group of black 20-year-olds in the streets of London.
However, this book definitely has the essence of London bleeding off the page; the beat of the Carnival drums can be heard softly in the background. It really embraces the culture and importance of Carnival to the black community. But I have to admit; this isn't exactly her best work (* cough* Queenie *cough*), but it is a chill, YA quick guilty pleasure read. It sets you in that summer Carnival mood, especially, as I look out my window as I type this to see the gloomy clouds and heavy rainfall.
Carty-Williams framed this book from an omniscient point of view, therefore allowing us to understand our two main characters and the people around them. The length of this books meant each page had to add to the narrative or our understanding of the rivalry between the Red Roses and the Gold Teeth.
I love reading books featuring black characters; it makes me remember that black stories are worth telling too. I'm so used to imagining a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy and girl falling in love that I genuinely forgot that this book wasn't following that narrative. Only once did Carty-Williams mention skin tone and I love that. I was speaking to my friends about this earlier; white is the default, and therefore anyone that is non-white is usually stated. Thus, suggesting a sense of otherness and abnormality. I am still trying to wrap my head around this when it comes to books, and I think Notting Hill Carnival captures the sense of normality that should be around a black love story, perfectly.
