We Deserve Monuments - Jas Hammonds

AUTHOR: Jas Hammonds

NARRATOR: Tamika Katon-Donegal

GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary Drama

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: I can see why the YA audience will go gaga over this. I can also see why some adults will love this. But mine, yet again, is an outlier review. Sigh.

Story Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Avery is moving with her parents from Washington to Bardell, Georgia, in order to take care of her terminally ill maternal grandmother, Mama Letty. She isn’t happy about the sudden move, especially when her mother doesn’t even have a good relationship with Letty. Moreover, there is some past secret that they refuse to talk about. As Avery settles into her new school and makes new friends, more secrets come tumbling out, and Avery is left wondering if resolving past issues is more important than maintaining present relationships.

The book comes to us in the first person perspective of Avery.

Where the book worked for me:

😍 Such a gorgeous cover! And it fits the book perfectly!

😍 There are some third-person interludes throughout the book depicting incidents from the past and concerning other characters. These are written well and add a nice balance to Avery’s first-person perspective.

😍 There are some interesting themes such as dysfunctional families, the value of friendships, and acceptance of sexual identity. The dark past of the American South is blended well with contemporary reality. Avery’s mixed race background also adds some nuances to the story (though this particular factor could have been handled much better.)

😍 As an OwnVoices work, it’s no surprise to see that the book is inclusive in its representation. There are many LGBTQ+ characters who are out and proud of it. There are also some closet queers whose emotions over coming out are written well. But… (continued below)

Where the book could have worked better for me:

😒 (continued from above)… but some of the representation exists just for the sake of it. For instance, Avery is supposedly pansexual, yet throughout the book, her feelings are more lesbian than pansexual. The rep felt like it was included because it was a cool thing to declare.

😒 If I have to describe the plot at its simplest, it is just about a bunch of women (of varied ages) who come together and bitch about the other women in their lives, either to their faces or behind their backs, and who consider themselves right and everyone else wrong. Basically, each one of them thinks that they ‘deserve a monument’. This gets tiresome after a while. I didn’t like a single main character in this book as all were self-absorbed.

😒 I can stand only *so* much of whiny, judgemental, egocentric teens who consider themselves smarter than all the adults in their lives. Imagine a seventeen-year-old being out of the house all evening (without permission while being grounded), not returning till 5am, and yet arguing with her mother for overreacting about the incident that was ‘not a big deal’. As an adult, it’s irritating to read about such teenagers!

😒 Almost all of the white characters are villainous. The only one who isn’t, has a minimal stock role to play. Moreover, there are too many disparaging comments about whites, and some really odd accusations that are tough to digest. I don’t want to go into spoilers, so I will give a similar but unrelated example. Would you point fingers at Hitler’s relatives who are alive today, for what he did during WWII? The drama was much over the top.

😒 There is a supposed mystery in the book, but it was much half-baked and not even worth the time.

😒 There is a sapphic romance in the book but I wasn’t a fan of the way it was written. Typical teen love, full of physical attraction and hardly any other connect.

😒 I am not a fan of YA books that have the main characters indulging in drugs (weed) and alcohol (whisky) without guilt. I also don’t appreciate the presence of risqué scenes or cuss words in this genre.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 10 hrs 22 min, is narrated by an experienced narrator whose works I have enjoyed in the past. Not this time though. While I was initially impressed with her attempt to voice characters distinctly, it soon became irritating. Her dramatization was exaggerated and her stress on individual voices for the characters ended up making them sound caricatured. The audio version will work for those who don’t mind hyperbolic performances.

Some YA books work for all age groups. Some work only for their target age range. To me, this fell in the second category (though the GR rating and friends’ reviews prove me very wrong!) Basically, I can see the appeal of this book to the YA crowd. But I was the wrong audience for it, not because I am not a YA, but because it was too YA for me. (I should have gotten a clue from that very self-absorbed title.) I go in mentally prepared for a lot of anatomical references and shallow characters in YA reads, but the prep didn’t help this time.

At the same time, I am very much an outlier on this. So feel free to ignore my opinion and give it a go. It’s by a debut author, and they would certainly appreciate your support.

My thanks to Recorded Books and NetGalley for the ALC of “We Deserve Monuments”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.