July 24, 2022
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
After their father's death and their mother's incarceration, Kiara and her brother Marcus are left to fend for themselves. They struggle along for a couple of years but eventually both drop out of high school to work at minimum wage jobs. When their uncle Ty makes it big as a rap artist, Marcus quits his job to chase a fantasy of becoming a rapper, too. With no way to pay the rent or buy food, Kiara resorts to selling herself on the street. At first she only works as a prostitute to make enough to pay the rent and the bills, but when the Oakland police catch her in the act, they force her to work as a prostitute for their fellow officers, even though they know she's underage, threatening to arrest her if she refuses. At the same time, Kiara is trying to protect a neighbor's child whose mother has abandoned him.
While this is really well-written (especially considering the author is a young adult herself), it was hard to read. It's gritty, sad, and yet compelling. Just about nothing good happens to the kids in the book: prostitution, trafficking, drug dealing, grinding poverty, rape, prison, single parenthood, foster care, abandonment by the adults who should have been caring for them, as well as by the systems that should be in place to protect them. About the only good thing that happens to Kiara is her friend Ale (who has her own grief to deal with). If you give yourself to the streets, it's as good as planning your own funeral.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.
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