In Every Mirror She's Black by Lola Akinmade Åkerström

genre: contemporary fiction

This novel follows the lives of three very different women as they try to create better lives for themselves and create meaningful relationships.  Kemi is a seccessful marketing executive who takes a chance on a job in Sweden - where as a Nigerian-American she is in the minority.  Former model Brittany-Rae allows herself to be wrapped into the world of Jonny, a filthy rich Swede and Muna, a refugee in Sweden, just wants stability and opportunity.  Three women whose lives connect both indirectly and directly but who are connected, as well. by the fact that they are Black in a very white-dominated society.

This isn't an easy book to read - both because of the choices these women make but also because of what happens TO them, the discrimination, the trauma, the betrayal.  It seems like no one can ever really get a break or find happiness and I acknowledge that obviously not every book needs to be about Black Joy (and the author even comments on this in the afterward) but it still makes it hard when you've invested in characters to see so much pain.  Again, this pain was sometimes self-inflicted - but we all make mistakes and I appreciated that Åkerström was trying to give these women the grace to be whole people - and that our skin color doesn't mean we have to always make good OR bad choices.  We just, as humans, get to BE.

I appreciated the Swedish setting - that was unfamiliar for me and rather interesting.  The interplay with one central character, Johnny, who intersects with all of these women's lives in different ways was intriguing but also a bit disconcerting.   He is clearly on the spectrum but his behavior didn't always feel believable to me.  The writing was good enough, it didn't blow me away with its beauty and sometimes I didn't understand people's choices at all but I was engaged enough to always want to pick it up and find out what was in store for Kemi, Brittany-Rae and Muna.