Leila Mottley

** AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK ** 'UNFORGETTABLE' GUARDIAN 'A SOUL-SEARCHING PORTRAIT OF SURVIVAL AND HOPE' OPRAH WINFREY 'MOTTLEY'S FLUID, INSTINCTIVE WRITING SOARS . . . A REMARKABLE DEBUT' SUNDAY TIMES 'GROUNDBREAKING . . . THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE BIG BOOKS OF 2022' STYLIST When there is no choice, all you have left to do is walk. Kiara Johnson does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a rehab facility and an older brother who devotes his time and money to a recording studio, she fends for herself – and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother is prone to disappearing for days at a time. As the landlord of their apartment block threatens to raise their rent, Kiara finds herself walking the streets after dark, determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her. Then one night Kiara is picked up by two police officers, and the gruesome deal she is offered in exchange for her freedom lands her at the centre of a media storm. If she agrees to testify in a grand jury trial, she could help expose the sickening corruption of a police department. But honesty comes at a price – one that could leave her family vulnerable to their retaliation, and endanger everyone she loves. Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising. -------------------------------------- READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF NIGHTCRAWLING 'Nightcrawling is a lyrical masterpiece' ***** 'This book ripped my heart out' ***** 'Unputdownable . . . From the first page I was hooked' ***** 'This is a heart-achingly necessary book which will carve a hole in your soul and stay with you forever' ***** 'It is rare to read a first novel so perfectly crafted' ***** 'This is an absolute must-read. Five stars out of five' ***** 'Completely gripping . . . This is going to be a huge bestseller' *****

‘An electrifying debut’

Nightcrawling

It’s difficult to know how to start this review as this is a Powerful book with an emotive storyline that is set around a True story although some things have been changed but as a debut book by Mottley its defiantly one that you need to give a chance. 

Our Main Character 17-year-old Kiara Johnson is struggling with her brother to make ends meet and keep it all together. Marcus: her brother is unable to hold down a job and is trying and failing to pursue a Job in the Music industry. Their Farther passed away when Ciara was 13 and their mother is in a. Halfway house. Kiara also feels responsible for the well-being of nine-year-year-old Trevor her neighbour Dee’s son who is often abandoned by his mother and left to fend for himself. When her landlord doubles her rent and she is unsuccessful in securing gainful employment elsewhere, an unfortunate turn of events sees her take to prostitution in a last-ditch effort to avoid eviction and starvation. 

For me this book was slow to start and took a while to get to the main plot line and then felt like there where less pages to complete the story in; having said that the story is powerful and leaves you with a lot of feelings that you don’t know where to put them or what to think or say. The depictions of social injustice, sexual abuse and exploitation are immensely disturbing, and I am not surprised that many have put this one aside midway. Kiara’s journey is a painful one, but she is a survivor, and we keep rooting for her. It’s not an easy book and the ending was the outcome I was expecting but was what was needed for the book and shows that Family and Friends can help lift you.

Ian Brakspear

It’s difficult to know how to start this review as this is a Powerful book with an emotive storyline that is set around a True story although some things have been changed but as a debut book by Mottley its defiantly one that you need to give a chance. 

 

Our Main Character 17-year-old Kiara Johnson is struggling with her brother to make ends meet and keep it all together. Marcus: her brother is unable to hold down a job and is trying and failing to pursue a Job in the Music industry. Their Farther passed away when Ciara was 13 and their mother is in a. Halfway house. Kiara also feels responsible for the well-being of nine-year-year-old Trevor her neighbour Dee’s son who is often abandoned by his mother and left to fend for himself. When her landlord doubles her rent and she is unsuccessful in securing gainful employment elsewhere, an unfortunate turn of events sees her take to prostitution in a last-ditch effort to avoid eviction and starvation. 

 

For me this book was slow to start and took a while to get to the main plot line and then felt like there where less pages to complete the story in; having said that the story is powerful and leaves you with a lot of feelings that you don’t know where to put them or what to think or say. The depictions of social injustice, sexual abuse and exploitation are immensely disturbing, and I am not surprised that many have put this one aside midway. Kiara’s journey is a painful one, but she is a survivor, and we keep rooting for her. It’s not an easy book and the ending was the outcome I was expecting but was what was needed for the book and shows that Family and Friends can help lift you.

Sarai Johnson

I think everyone involved in the publication of this novel owes this young woman an apology for publishing what should have been a writing exercise in empathy and perspective. I wish this book was something she could talk about in interviews a decade from now when she publishes her magnum opus, not something that people are actually reading. 

This novel is impressive in the sense that most people, regardless of age, aren’t capable of completing a book. It is impressive that a teen was able to complete a work of this length with the (shallow) amount of complexity Nightcrawling contains. 

However, I believe Mottley’s agent(s) and editor(s) are exploiting her youth, her blackness, the political climate, and the women who are truly impacted by the crimes described in this text. 

This book is extraordinarily problematic in ways that any text produced by a teenager would be. I don’t even want to focus on the soapy overwriting, the absurd amount of similes, or the reckless mishandling of vernacular English, there are greater issues at hand. Perhaps I mistook this for literary fiction when it is actually urban or genre fiction.

The most glaring problem in my opinion: the main black male character is offensively infantilized and incompetent. This depiction of a black man could set us back decades. Plus the way the main character takes on this man’s responsibilities without much of a second thought is an embarrassing characterization of the “strong black woman.” 

Yes, it’s “real” but it’s always so much more complicated and nuanced than what is in the pages of this book. 

Further, I am troubled that this is “based on a true story.” The woman or women whose story this book is based on couldn’t have been consulted because there is no way an individual would consent to having their story told in this way. While the story itself doesn’t feel farfetched at all (I’m not at all shocked by the crimes), the characters in it are like caricatures of themselves. The tropes are so old, they’re disintegrating. 

Does the author know any poor black folks? A black man? A sex worker? Being black does not mean you are capable of or are entitled to tell any and all black stories. Blackness is more complex than that. And I think this story deserved more complexity and depth. 

This writer is talented. But her talent needs to be cultivated appropriately. 

The adults around her should have known better. 

I don’t want to imply that teens aren’t capable of writing meaningfully. They are! I’ve seen it myself! But as we’ve seen with many greats of any discipline, practice matters. To me, this calls into question whether what Toni Morrison or Tayari Jones or [insert another prolific writer here] was writing at 17 should have been published and would they be proud of it?

This was good practice for Mottley but shouldn’t have been published as it is.

Nightcrawling ‘An electrifying debut’

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