Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley is an extremely well-written novel. Mottley's voice is so unique and compelling. I really enjoyed reading her writing.

On the other hand, I didn't feel as invested in the story as I suspected I would be. It was a bit on the slower side, which I usually don't mind, but from some reason, it caused me stop and start reading this one a couple times.

I still think this was an incredibly written and worthwhile novel though. I can't wait to read the author's future work.

Kiara is almost eighteen years old trying to eke out an existence in Oakland after the death of her father, the incarceration of her mother, and the emotional abandonment of her brother Marcus. Without job prospects or any viable means to pay the rent on the family apartment, Kiara resorts to the streets to sell her body aka night crawling in order to survive.

Like a poetic, haunting steam of consciousness, Kiara's harrowing story unravels as she tries to stay afloat, at times with the help of her friend Alé and Trevor, who lives in the neighboring apartment and has been abandoned by his drug addicted mother. Caring for Trevor gives Kiara purpose and nudges her forward into a world where the distinction between the "good guys" and "bad guys" truly blurs.

Nightcrawling is a revelation.The author, Leila Mottley is only seventeen years old and I look forward to seeing her literary career unfold. This novel will stay with me for a long time.

Wow, this one really blew me away. It's been said so many times but it's amazing that this was written when the writer was 17. What the heck?! Having worked all over Oakland the last decade, you could tell this was written by someone from Oakland. The descriptions of the neighborhoods were so spot on. I totally recall the case this book drew its inspiration from and it was a very difficult case to read about then and the content wasn't any easier in this book. But the strength we see in Kiara and the love for her family, blood and chosen, was beautiful.

Leila Mottley has written the most riveting debut novel I have ever read. In Nightcrawling led me on a journey through the streets of Oakland, California, and through the eyes of a young black woman whose focus is survival as she walks some of the most dangerous streets every night.

The author began writing the story of Kiara Johnson when she was seventeen years old. The same age as Kiara, the main character. As I began reading, I was led to imagine losing your father to illness and your mother being sent to prison. Where your only means of support is an older brother who believes in a pipe dream that he believes will make him rich and famous. Having no work experience and being turned down for employment day after day Kiara is discouraged and afraid that she and her brother will soon be homeless. Not only that Kiara feels responsible for a neglected neighbor’s son. With a heavy weight on her shoulders, she inadvertently learns that she can make quick money with her body. She also learns how easily the justice system designed to serve and protect has turned on her in a way that keeps her emotionally detached from the people she encounters. Meanwhile, her brother runs into troubles that Kiara feels the need to solve.

This story is so deep and makes you want to fight for Kiara. It made me think of the young people facing dire futures much like Kiara’s. It made me cry for her and it made me want to reach out and hug Kiara. Mottley’s storytelling will move your emotions in ways that will never forget. I look forward to reading Mottley’s next book.

Nightcrawling is a remarkable debut about 17-year-old Kiera and her story of survival in Oakland. The book was challenging to read at times because it touches on difficult topics, but the author applies grace in addressing the topics.

The writing is beautiful, lyrical and the characters are so well-developed. It’s so impressive that the author is 17-year-old herself.

Thank you to NetGalley, Leila Mottley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

While reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself the author is only seventeen and this is her debut! That fact alone propelled me to finally finish the book.

I enjoyed the story, once it finally got rolling, however the writing style was evident of not a fluid seasoned writer. I found I needed to skip pages ahead, the prose was a bit too lyrical for me and left me feeling disconnected.

I do believe this book is only the first draft to a brilliant literary author of our future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf publishing for the advanced copy of this beautiful debut novel.

The story centers on Kiara a 17 year old, who has been dealt a rubbish hand at life - Kiara and Marcus, her brother, have been fending for themselves since their mother was incarcerated, and their father passed away. This leads to the unraveling of both their lives.

How the story unfolds, and Leilas exquisite writing makes this an easy 5 Star review. A complete gem of a book, cannot wait to read more from Leila Mottley

This is the story of Kiera, a 17 year old living in Oakland trying to survive and live life. She struggles and has a 10 year old neighbor boy she even cares for which softens this difficult story a bit. This is a tough story with some difficult topics, but the other addresses them well and with grace. The most impressive thing is the author was 17 herself when she wrote this. Totally remarkable and I look forward to what this talented author does in the future.

This was amazing. Meet Kiara, doing her best. She's just shy of 18, job hunting, and practically raising the kid from next door. Her parents- one is dead the other is not capable of helping. Kiara falls, almost accidentally into prostitution and the reader thinks maybe they know where the story is going... but then something else happens and it goes off the rails.
I was completely blown away by this story. The writing is beautiful, lyrical, the characters so well developed I could see them standing in front of me as I read. My heart broke several times reading this book and I have never wanted anyone to win so bad at life than Kiara, or to at least get ONE FREAKING BREAK. The bad in this world is relentless on this character. At the same time there are some beautiful scenes that are just heartbreakingly gorgeous (scenes with Trevor and the overpass scene- I think that will stay with me forever).

Wow. What an absolute gut punch of a book. But while it’s emotionally devastating, it's also got moments of quiet hope and beauty that shines through. To say it's incredibly written is a supreme understatement.

Nightcrawling is a confronting and powerful story of classism and racism; the cycles of systemic oppression; the brutality and exploitation that exists in police forces and the justice system.

Told through Kiara’s day to day life and her determination to keep her family together, to survive in a system set up for failure, her viewpoint was all at once with childlike innocence and way beyond her years.

Heartachingly intense. I started this one on my kindle and had to take a break, knowing I would come back to it soon. It stuck with me for two months until I finally finished it on audio. And still, I struggle to find words to do it justice.

Mottley was 17 when she began writing this book, and 19 when it was published. It's her debut novel and it's been longlisted for the Booker Prize. I will be reading everything she puts out into the world.

Phenomenal. Just read it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Sometimes, NetGalley emails me books that it recommends. When I get those, I request anything that sounds interesting. This book fell under this category. I probably never would have read this otherwise. However, it’s now an Oprah Book Club recommendation, so I’m glad I got my hands on it. This book was just so beautiful and heartbreaking and beautifully written. I loved it.

From Goodreads: Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent–which has more than doubled–and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.

One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department.

If your heart isn’t breaking for Kiara in this book, you have no soul. She’s just a child, taking care of a child, doing the best she can. She has the best heart but no means to do much since she is a high school dropout. You want so badly for her to find her way. And she does but not in a way that’s beneficial to her soul. You beg Marcus to step up and be the big brother. You beg the neighbor kid’s mom to see what she’s done to her son. And you beg those who love Kiara to protect her. Not only is the story captivating, the writing is beautiful. This is Mottley’s first book, but I will keeping an eye on her to see what else she creates.

Nightcrawling is fine: Teenaged debut novelist Lelia Mottley stuffed this gritty urban tale with just about every inner city social issue imaginable, and with the writing style dialled up to eleven, there are many fine lines, many fine scenes, but also an unrestrained exuberance that made me a bit impatient. Nightcrawling has been longlisted for the 2022 Man Booker Prize — meaning people whose opinion counts more than mine does found this novel to be among the best released in English, worldwide, this year — but it didn’t really engage me on a literary level. The nomination may have led me to expect more from this novel, and I have to admit that the writing does not betray the author’s young age, but overall, this was just fine.

I received an ARC of Nightcrawling from Knopf Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

Nightcrawling is a frustrating book. It is an accomplished debut novel from a young writer (Oakland’s former youth poet laureate, seventeen years old when she wrote Nightcrawling) with a strong authorial voice—it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Mottley has a great book, or books, in her future—but it is still very much a debut novel, weighed down by all the shortcomings I tend to associate with them: lots of table setting, and tortured similes and metaphors that reek of an unconfident writer desperate to impress (which may be a symptom of Mottley struggling to make the transition from poetry to prose). Mottley’s work isn’t quite ready for primetime, but this is a promising start to what will hopefully be a stellar career.

Nightcrawling follows Kiara, a young Black woman living in Oakland, as she tries to bring in money while her brother nurtures unrealistic dreams of becoming a rap star. Kiara’s endeavors end up entangling her in sex work, and she eventually becomes embroiled her in a major scandal involving the Oakland Police Department. Kiara serves as a satisfying centerpiece for the book—she is practical, headstrong without being hard-headed, and her grounded approach to both the positives and negatives of life makes her a comfortable companion through some truly terrifying experiences. This is a bleak novel, but Mottley effectively showcases how difficult it is for marginalized and oppressed people (Black, female, impoverished, etc.) to extricate themselves from systems of power which have evolved to keep them that way, and how easy it is for things to escalate in the desperation to survive.

Unfortunately, it takes a long time for things to get going; the plot doesn’t take shape until roughly halfway through the book, and it is only in the final quarter that Mottley really gets to the meat of the story. Are Kiara’s literal and figurative meanderings through Oakland meant to communicate something to the reader? Are they a literary technique, meant to reinforce her lack of options, her inability to find work and purpose? Probably. But if that’s the payoff, I’m not sure it’s sufficient to outweigh the dreary pacing that gums up the first half of the novel. Trimming the early sections of the book and expanding the later sections, giving them more room to breathe, would have done wonders for the raw power of this story.

Mottley’s prose was also a bit of a mixed bag for me. Sometimes it is rich and evocative—exactly what I would expect from a poet—but sometimes she swings way too far, tying herself in knots to create an onslaught of similes and metaphors that do nothing to enhance the descriptions or the tone of the text (Ocean Vuong made the leap from poetry to prose much more elegantly in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, and the memory of that superior novel was lingering in my mind as I read Nightcrawling). “Less is more,” as they say.

I liked Nightcrawling. It’s a good book. But it’s not a great book. I hope Mottley continues to polish her prose skills, because the promise and the potential of her work is on full display here, and I believe she could become an impressive novelist. I will follow her career with interest.

DNF. Unfortunately, this was a book I started multiple times but could just not get into. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

Nightcrawling is a gut wrenching story of survival and tiny glimmer of hope and the betrayal of the world on women but especially young Black women. Kiara Johnson has tried everything to get her and her brother’s rent caught up so they don’t end up on the streets. But she’s under 18 and doesn’t have a diploma so her options are limited. Then one night she finds herself in a situation that shows her how she can make some money quickly. Only it quickly spirals and what Kiara had told herself was just for a while and was okay because it was her choice suddenly is completely out of her control and she finds herself in danger.
The prose is hypnotic. It’s almost poetic in the tragic world that Kiara navigates just trying to find a way to live her life. This was a hard read, tons of content warnings, but ultimately a really great read that I couldn’t put down.

Initially, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue reading after discovering the novel was about sex trafficking/child prostitution, and just so damn much hardship. But I'm glad I did finish because Mottley's novel was started when she was seventeen, and remembering a case where a young girl was involved with corrupt police officers who used her for sex, like all sexual abusers, threatening her if she didn't comply or told anyone.

The novel is about our main character and her slightly older brother struggling to pay the rent and survive on their own while their mother is in a halfway house, the father dead. Kiara takes in her nine-year-old neighbor,Trevor, after his mother abandons him.

I don't want to give away the plot but I will say, life doesn't get easier for any of our main characters, and the prose becomes its strongest towards the end of this gripping novel.

LEILA MOTTLEY WROTE THIS MASTERPIECE STARTING AT AGE 17! I am floored. The prose. Truly this book is a work of art. It is full of important social commentary and makes it onto my required reading list. The journey that we go on with Kiara is heart wrenching. The writing is hauntingly beautiful - especially the imagery. Seeing this side of Oakland through the lens of someone living through it is powerful. And that the inspiration comes from real events? We need more novels like this one.

After their father's death and their mother's incarceration, Kiara and her brother Marcus are left to fend for themselves. They scrape along for a couple of years and then things start to go to hell. When their uncle Ty hits the big time as a rap artist, Marcus quits his job to chase a fantasy of following in their uncle's footsteps. With no way to pay their rent or buy food, Kiara resorts to selling herself on the street. At first she makes enough money to support herself and Marcus, but after the Oakland police catch her in the act, they force her to become a prostitute for their fellow police officers - except half the time, they don't even pay her. At the same time, Kiara is trying to protect a neighbor's son who has been abandoned by his mother. When one of the police officers commits suicide, Kiara's name is dragged into the investigation.

The writing is really good but it was very hard to read. Just about nothing good happens to the young adults in this novel: prostitution, trafficking, drug dealing, prison, foster care, abandonment by all the adults around them, not to mention grinding poverty. It takes place in the seedy underside of the city and shows how giving yourself to the streets is as good as planning your own funeral. It's gritty, sad, tense. The only good thing that happens to Kiara is her friend Ale. Otherwise, everything fails these kids.

Thank you Netgalley, Leila Mottley, and Knopf for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, and at times I did. But, I also found this book to include a great deal of trauma and would definitely make sure to warn others before they read this book. I also found the end to be a bit rushed. Overall, I think that this is an important story to read, but that readers should beware before they dive in head first.

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I really didn't. It is full of Black Trauma, very triggering, and I had to force myself to finish the story. There also seemed to be no redemption, even at the end of the story. Something happened to one of the characters, but that particular arc never got resolved. Although I wasn't a fan of this particular story, I do hope the author continues to keep working on her craft. And I would be willing to read books by her in the future.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions.