Leila Mottley's first novel set in present day Oakland, received a Booker Prize nomination for 2023. Mottley, Just in her early 20s, writes about 17 year old Kiara (Kia) who is struggling to pay the rent and keep groceries in the apartment she shares with her older brother Marcus and nine year old Trevor. Trevor's mother rents in the same run down apartment complex but is more often missing as she looks to score her next hit. There's a noxious, uncared for pool in the center of the building that draws a strong, gravitational pull that keeps Kia swimming against in trying to stay afloat. Her father was more of a stranger having spent most of Kia's life imprisoned. He was murdered shortly after being released. Their mom is sentenced to rehab after their baby sister drowned while she was in a drugged stupor. This leaves a grieving Kia and her adored brother Marcus alone and with no means to care for one another. Marcus' plan is to make it as rap singer. This hoop dream means the responsibilities fall on Kiara shoulders to keep them from living on the streets. Finding no job open to her, Kia succumbs to working the mean streets at night, crawling into cars and alleys with strangers. Stranger danger is a warning Kia is forced to ignore lest they starve. She is swept up in a scandal that endangers her safety and threatens to bring down several officers who engaged in sexual misconduct with prostitutes and underage women. Mottley is a skillful writer who captures the grit of a decaying community and still maintain a greater hold on loving unconditionally. Kia's unwavering care for Trevor and her connection with her lifelong friend Ale' keep the pain sustainable and poignant. Kia is both vulnerable and irrepressible. She's able to read a room knowing when to safely push back and when to become invisible. Mottley's storytelling is reminiscent of the radiance found in Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones" and Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon." All main characters remain savvy knowing the other shoe is sure to drop but still cognizant of life being worth living for having someone you care for. Mottley's plot is based on an Oakland newstory implicating the police officers in illicit misconduct in which the grand jury failed to indict law enforcement personnel. NIGHTCRAWLING ripples with the good, the bad the ugly. It fathoms the reverberations of actions taken and not taken. The novel is a stark depiction of what it portends to be destitute and the grandeur captured of extending a lifeline.
No comments:
Post a Comment