this was SO GOOD.
I think that the structure of this book—to have it take place over a single weekend—really helps to highlight all of the complexities that accompany life after prison. Every challenge that Carlotta encounters isn't a plot twist, but a structural failing. While her narrative will certainly make you laugh, you're also going to feel so frustrated for her . . . making this book a source of entertainment and a catalyst for change.
I understand some readers' complaints about the rapid switches in POV from third to first. It takes some getting used to, but I fell in love with it and I thought it was a perfect fit for this story. You have a more traditional narrative laying out the facts, and then Carlotta jumping in to remind you just how ridiculous all of this is.
So good!! Will definitely be checking out more from James Hannaham in the future.

This is the funniest, saddest book about looking to settle into a new life after prison and how the world is built to squash former prisoners AND trans women. There is so much humor and heart that it makes our bleak reality all the more crushing.

I want to return to this book in the summer when my teaching load lessens and I get a chance to quiet some of the noise--the book needs some level of attention and focus, mainly because it is outside a traditional narrative with a lot of the structures we are used to in terms of plot structure, narrative, voice, character. And I love that, but I also feel like I needed to not read it on a screen and not read it in bits and pieces--it needs to be settled into with the full force of focus.

I was interested in this book because of the trans character, because of the clever title, and as I started it, I was captivated. But the book didn't hold me as I think it needed to in order for me to fully engage in the decisions Hannaham made in constructing and expressing this world.

I adored this book. The format is unique and feels very conversational because it's like Carlotta is keeping a running commentary on a narrative about her own life. Her interjections make this book feel alive and pulsing, and her indomitable sense of humor keeps the reader from despair even when she's telling horrifying stories about her experiences in life. Carlotta's fierce determination to find a way to survive and thrive on her own terms is inspiring, and it makes her one of the most indelible characters I have read about in a good long while. There are a lot of obstacles in Carlotta's way. She makes mistakes and sometimes she doesn't handle situations in the best way. But with every pitfall she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and keeps marching.

This is a book that deals with a lot of heavy issues in an honest and serious-but-not-heavyhanded way. I respect that it doesn't offer solutions to these systemic problems while resolutely pointing the reader toward their existence with sincere and profound empathy.

One of my favorite books in a year of favorites, although this is an all over the board book emotionally and socially for this older white woman of privilege. Carlotta was Dustin when she went to a liquor store with her cousin. He commits an armed robbery that landed them both in prison. Most folks would have been paroled long before serving their full 22 years, but Carlotta Mercedes transitioned while in prison and she just can't seem to get a break. She is frequently put into solitary for her own safety and then is assaulted by Dave the guard. She remembers, throughout the time-shifting story, her way of surviving in prison, her love for a very scary guy, what one does to make it when all you have is a window and a weed growing in the cement and a system of sending notes under doors.

When Carlotta does manage to get out, on parole and so on probation, she knows some of her family will never accept her. Many will resent her grandmother agreed to house her. She wants to reunite with her son, now a young adult, but he hasn't written back over the years. His grandmother owns the house, spilling over with raucous family members including Carlotta's mother, sadly in late stages of early Alzheimers offers to lend her clothes for her first probation appointment. Very sweet scene and what Carlotta has to wear is ultimately an outfit you cannot unsee. Thrown in the the "what to wear" as a trans woman is lust for clothes one cannot afford and a great makeup routine that required some resourcefulness in prison. Once "out" there are some interesting, kind of "Pretty Woman" scenes that are hysterical and sad all at once.

Carlotta's sensibilities are constantly fresh, funny, cynical, human. Only she seems to see that the little girl cousin who is performing for the family is a lousy singer. Only she can be responsible for the terms of her parole that require her to not to be around alcohol --- at a time when her family's home seems to be party central. Only Carlotta would be stuck in sleeping on mattress in a closet and still find people have invaded her bedroom during one of these parties. Only she would pursue a job as a driver when she doesn't have a license and then spend time trying to figure out how to drive -- in Brooklyn -- with no experience. There's a sweet optimism, a ton of naivety and yet well-earned street smarts and plenty of original take observations in this woman. We all root for her. We learn a new way of looking at the world through her.

There are some terrific characters, my favorite being her grandmother, the family matriarch with old lady energy who cooks for the parties, feeds her morbidly obese son who is unable to leave his room anymore, gives Carlotta enough to get by and more importantly accepts her. Carlotta's probation officer is a fabulous mix of supportive, distrustful, dismayed and all business as she does home visits and keeps tabs on her new charge. Carlotta was worried about a number of relationships, since her best friend stopped communicating with her for years, but they find each other and have some adventures while figuring out if there's a friendship still. The men are a little bit stereotyped, well -- a lot of characters are, but the neb are less fleshed out, playing collateral roles or foils for humorous escapades. There's a lot of living to do in a short time when you get out of prison after years of trauma, abuse, rejection. There's lots of temptation. There's lots of what might have been. I know I give a shit what happened to Carlotta! I'm attached to her and do not want her to go away after one book.

Such a fresh read, almost educational and tender and terrible. Highly recommend!

WOW! I loved this book! The most unique writing I have read this year! I laughed out loud and felt things that a book hasn't made me feel in a long time!

2.75 stars
God, I really wanted to like this. I requested this book on NetGalley because I’ve wanted to read more about stories revolving trans women. I was more excited that this was about a trans women of color. Unfortunately, the book was boring. Nothing happened. I kept waiting for Carlotta to get her life situated and for her to move on up. We never got that. 85% of the book was just her internal commentary. Don’t get me wrong, she is entertaining but she went on for pages about one thing.
The best thing about this was Carlotta’s conversations with Doodles. Additionally, her experiences in prison were enlightening. Carlotta opening up to Doodles held my attention and made me feel for Carlotta.

Carlotta, formerly known as Dustin, returns home on parole after spending twenty years in a men’s prison. Her story is achingly sad but she is resilient and it’s impossible not to root for her. She’s so aware of the absurdity of the cruelties she suffers. It’s almost as if she can convince herself she’s taking pratfalls in her own weird sitcom. The scenes are punctuated with a sudden, starburst humor—the kind of humor that makes you eventually want to cry, because it’s so biting, and so ruthlessly uninterested in making you see the pain less clearly. The writing is gorgeous. The voice requires concentration. You could say the story is Joycean but only if Leopold Bloom were a Black/Colombian trans woman who is too “pee shy” to urinate in front of her parole officer and that is the least of her problems.

Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta is an odyssey of one trans woman’s life as she transitions from being incarcerated to being released.

Carlotta doesn’t have high hopes for her next meeting with the parole board. Much to her surprise, the board grants her release with conditions. Having been incarcerated for over twenty years, NYC looks a lot different than it did previously.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Carlotta wishes to reconcile with her son; gain her family’s acceptance; try to avoid breaking any of her conditions for parole.

This is an utterly original story with an unforgettable main character. The writing style is quite unique and allows the reader to enter Carlotta’s mind. It frequently switches from third to first-person without warning, sometimes in the same sentence.

While the story goes from one chaotic scene to the next, it also reveals the harsh realities of the justice system and how difficult it can be to escape its reach. Carlotta is an immensely positive and joyful person but has dealt with a lot of trauma while being incarcerated, which she reflects on throughout the novel.

I highly recommend this novel. And now I’ll check out the author’s backlist.

CW: SA.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

An incredible novel that is bold, brilliant, and will stay with me for a long time. Longer review forthcoming.

A hilarious and heartbreaking book about a trans woman who is trying to adjust to freedom after 20 years in prison.

Carlotta Mercedes is a black trans woman who is finally being released from prison after 22 long years, and the bulk of this story is about her first day back home in NYC ... where her neighborhood has become gentrified, living with her family is a parole violation, her adult son wants nothing to do with her, and the pressure to get a job and "stay straight" is overwhelming.

Didn't Nobody Give A Shit What Happened To Carlotta is largely told from Carlotta's pov, and in her vernacular, but there is also some 3rd person narration, and the switch back and forth (often in the same sentence!) requires some extra processing from the reader. It's a cool story-telling technique, but the formatting of this book made it a bit cumbersome (I read a digital ARC, hopefully the formatting is better when the book is actually released.)

This story is brutal, overwhelming and devastating. Somehow it's also funny, light and hopeful. Despite the difficult details (readers should be aware that this story includes prison rapes) the presiding mood of the book is one of determination and triumph.

This book opened my eyes to a perspective I had not previously considered. 4.5 stars. Recommend for mature readers. My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley.
#DidntNobodyGiveAShitWhatHappenedToCarlotta

Another great book by James. A story about a trans woman in a males prison. I didn't know what to expect. A tough read at times and the story writing takes some getting used to. I loved his book Delicious Foods and this one was great as well. Look forward to more by this author.

This book was a rollercoaster. From the structure to the POV to the drama hunny! Carlotta, an Afro-Latinx Trans woman, is released on parole after spending decades in a male prison. She is thrown into a gentrified New York city that she no longer recognizes. Back into a family that struggles to see her as the woman she is. Into an unforgiving parole process, where she must find a job and a more stable living arrangement. And above all this, she wishes to connect with her grown son, who sees her as an abomination. And if this wasn’t enough, she is dealing with trauma that she has experienced while imprisoned (TW: Rape. Physical and verbal abuse).

I won’t lie, at first, it was a struggle to get into because of the shifting POV. It was both third person and first person, and it would switch from paragraph to paragraph and even sentence to sentence. In the beginning, it was a struggle (although that may be due to the format I got from Netgalley, maybe the format will be more clear in the final hard copy of the book). But once I got a hang on the shifting POV, I actually appreciated the authors audacity, lol. The third person narration provided the details about NYC and the world around Carlotta in a way that Carlotta couldn’t provide the readers. And Carlotta’s POV gave us insight into her mind and her perception of the world (which was often hilarious). But having only one POV without the other, would have definitely changed the tone of the overall story. Being in only Carlotta’s POV throughout the whole novel might have been taxing, but without her POV, the novel wouldn’t have had all the sass and humour that it needed to balance all the trauma. It was an unconventional structure but ultimately one I appreciated.

Also, 95% of the book takes place in ONE DAY! Another thing I wasn’t expecting. I kept waiting for days, or weeks, or months to pass, but no, this mainly happens over the first full 24 hours of Carlotta’s release. Which was impressive, because it really highlighted the pressure and struggle of finding one’s footing after being released from prison. How hard it is to find work, to find stable living conditions, to reconnect with friends or family, to find some grace, to both fear and crave freedom. Those 24 hours with Carlotta provided ALL THE FEELS. Carlotta, despite her downfalls, despite her struggles, despite her mistakes, is truly a joy, a spirit, a human (fictional or not) that I enjoyed spending time with. And I think you will to. There is a lot to learn in this novel, about being a Trans woman (both while incarcerated and released into the world). There is a lot to learn about the ugliness of the prison system, the pressures of being on parole and what it means to be a parolee in an unforgiving world. It is not an easy read, but there is something special in Carlotta that makes this read enjoyable. I definitely recommend, especially because of how unconventional it is in its story-telling.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company, and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4/5

Hilarious. Unconventional. Saucy. The rules of writing are being absolutely obliterated in this uncategorizable crazy tale of Carlotta Mercedes née Dustin Chambers. Just flat out different in not only the way the story is revealed but the style of writing.

There are point of view changes within paragraphs, hell sometimes in the same sentence. Going from first-person to third-person with a quick turn. There are the phonetic spelling of words, which will drive language purists crazy.

“You couldn’t look at no boring-ass caterpillar and recanize the gorgeous butterfly that it done become after, right?”

If you come to this book with an open mind and can be a nonconformist for a few hours then you will get a good solid tale of a struggle to live one’s truth. And you will meet an array of odd characters as witnesses to Carlotta’s fight to be free, in every sense of the word.

I can definitely see this landing on best of year lists, just for the sheer hilarity and off the edge style of writing. This is a book not to be just read, but to be experienced. The title alone is unlike anything currently in the fiction market, it was the impetus for me to request this book. So, many thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown &Co. for an advanced DRC. Book lands everywhere on Aug. 30, 3022

Super powerful story with wonderful prose. I was gripped, and couldn't stop reading. This is a fantastic addition to the trans canon of literature, and the genre of literary fiction generally. the writing style was striking, the storytelling was compelling and clean, and such a heart wrenching story. Will definitely be recommending on my platform closer to publication.

This heartwrenching story about a trans woman’s experience in a men’s prison and her attempt to reintegrate into society brings up a lot of relevant trans rights issues and sheds light on the systemic violence enacted by the prison industrial complex.

This was my first encounter with James Hannaham’s work (hopefully not my last), and I appreciated the character-driven nature of his work. Literary in nature, with sparking dialogue and well-written scenes.