Nicola Yoon, an acclaimed Young Adult author famous for Everything Everything, Black Out, and The Sun is Also a Star, has ventured into adult content with her new novel One of Our Kind. As a fan of her previous work, I dove into this one without doing too much research in advance. I was excited about a thriller that seemed like the all-Black version of Rouge or Nine Perfect Strangers and I trusted Yoon to pull it off in a unique yet engaging way.

The basic premise of the book is that Jasmyn and King Williams move to an all-Black utopian community called Liberty with their son. The community is built so that people never have to leave. As such, it’s primarily made for rich people. The center attraction is a luxury spa where nearly everyone (except Jasmyn) spends all of their time. While King quickly adjusts and adores his new home, Jasmyn is deeply uncomfortable as it increasingly feels to her like the Black people in Liberty are not “her people”.

This book is a difficult read. The experience of Black suffering and racism is at the forefront in nearly every page. The readers are inside of Jasmyn’s thoughts, and she is constantly thinking about police brutality and the way society hurts the people she loves. As such, I do believe that the target audience for this book is likely white people. I cannot imagine that it would be a very fulfilling nor even worthwhile experience for a Black person to read a fictional book that centers their identity around pain.

As the book continued, Jasymn’s once-admirable conviction faded into something that felt, to be honest, a bit off. Jasmyn sees the way she’s living as the only “correct” way and views other women as less black for not living up to that. Her internal monologue frequently shames Black women for doing their hair any way other than natural, wearing clothes she associates with whiteness, or any other eurocentric behavior.

It was at this point that I turned to Goodreads to see what other people were saying about Yoon’s novel. Casey R Kelley described it as “the most anti-black book I have ever read”. Bri called the book “Get Out fanfiction” (and not in a good way). Sasha from bahareads said in her review that “A Black woman writing this type of novel is sad”. Other Black women did appreciate the novel, calling it “moving” and that Jasymn’s harsh personality was “needed” (review). I encourage everyone to read all of the full reviews I linked in this paragraph as their opinions are vastly better worded and more relevant than mine.

Despite my criticisms, this book was well-written and extremely easy to get through. Even at times when I was confused by the message being pushed I was still eagerly turning the pages, captivated by the plot and trying to figure out what happened next. Yoon is a delightful author who clearly knows how to pull people in and keep them reading. Because of that, I would recommend this book to people who enjoy mysterious thrillers while still keeping in mind the way many people feel the subject of being Black in America is poorly portrayed.

Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop

I received an ALC of this book from Libro.fm. All opinions are my own.