I think this is such an impressive, important debut novel. The writing is biting and witty and I could definitely see this being made into a TV series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Quick Response-
I went through an emotional rollercoaster with this one. Holy cow. I wanted to root for the MC, Aki Hayashi-Brown, and wanted her to have a faster development than she did. Although it took her a bit too long, I am proud of her in the end.

I understand the copy I read was an ARC, however, there were too many errors in the grammar and I believe at one point a mis-naming of one of the characters. I don’t understand how it got so far without those mistakes being edited. That said, I truly hope and believe these errors would have been addressed by the time publishing occurred.

There were two aspects that I personally had an issue with and because it is an ARC, I was withholding posting my review until I could compare this draft to the published copy. Those issues are: the name of the coffee shop that is continually brought up and the issue with one of the consultants - these two problems could have been switched out for other factors ( a made up local coffee shop instead of a problematic franchise, and a different personal flaw with the consultant).

Plot-
Aki Hayashi-Brown is a teacher at a private school in DC where her daughter, Meg (Megrim), also attends. A hate crime occurs and the story follows how everyone responds.

Themes -
The book touches on the following themes:

Racism, mother/ daughter relationships, the value and importance of someone’s name, token representation (especially in roles of authority).


Characters-
Aki was so slow to react that it became infuriating (if it had lasted any longer, I might have DNF’ed this book). She did go through some internal battles: feeling her anger vs behaving how she was raised. As I mentioned before, I wish her character arc occurred earlier on, but I was happy when she started speaking up. It is clear from the beginning that she doesn't want to speak up because she doesn’t want to ruin her daughter’s opportunities. But even her daughter knows there are more important things than getting into the “right” college. From the minute she started working at the school, Aki felt indebted to the institution, this is explicitly stated; as is the fact that she is someone who values praise from her superiors.

Meg was a fierce champion of justice and standing up for her values and beliefs. She is unwavering in her views. Although I mostly liked Meg because of this, I did find that she was rude and disrespectful to her mother. But even with this, she does mature.

Aki’s husband, Ian, was pretty unrealistic - but he provided a sense of brightness in a tense household.

Aki’s coworkers are her besties, and are a good support system.

The parents and anyone in a position of authority are infuriating in their behavior. It’s sad how disgusting they are.

Overall, the characters are pretty one dimensional. It felt as though everyone was a dramatization of their main personality trait.

Writing Style-
The pace varied: at times slow, then fast. Sometimes I’m ok with a book pace varying, but for this book, I wish it were more consistent. This aspect didn’t deter me from wanting to read the book. The plot moved along fine enough. There were parts of the book where I was clinging onto every word and would react outwardly to the content (primarily during the negative encounters). But there were also parts during the slow moments where I felt the author was being redundant.

Though the book is based on a heavy topic, the author inserts some levity with light humor in her writing. Think sarcasm and sass.

There was a point in the book where a town hall took place that feels very representative of how racism is tackled in the real world. When a racial hate crime occurs, there is a superficial bandaid, that “quick fix” is then called out by a minority group that is rightfully demanding more to be done, and then a pseudo-ally demands more of the superficial fix.

My Reading Experience-
The book was an “easy” read. I say easy in the sense that it was quick to get through once I picked it up, but the events were infuriating.

Do I Like this book?-
I liked it enough, but I wouldn’t pick it up again.

Do I Recommend this Book?-
I recommend this book (assuming all editorial errors have been handled) to someone who wants a lighter book about a heavy topic.

Trigger warnings-
Racism
Microagression

Overall a really interesting premise (how does an elite mostly white institution deal with a racist incident on campus?). Sometimes the book felt preachy even though I usually love social justice themed books. Other times the book felt very realistic in how events would pan out. This book is a much heavier read at least for me, and I was very curious on how the book would end. But, the ending was okay…. I perhaps wanted more closure and a better understanding of what actually happened with the incident.

It's a Privilege Just to Be Here was an excellent read. I loved the dark academic setting. I liked the exploration of themes of class and who gets to "belong". Well done!

This was a great novel with themes of privilege, jealousy, racism. I love anything set in academic worlds and while the story felt a bit meandering in places, overall I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to what Sasaki writes next.

Thank you to the author, Alcove Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the delay in posting this review, I am well behind and trying to catch up!

This book gives an inside look into the world of private schools, including entitled parents who raise entitled children, casual racism and classism, bigotry, and the hypocrisy of elitist posturing around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Aki, as one of the few teachers of color at the school, is used to being called upon to make the school appear more diverse. After a graffiti incident at the school, she is appointed to be the head of a Racial Equity Task Force, while the school leadership is struggling to contain the fallout - but they don’t take her opinions into account. It’s all about the image rather than making real change to find the culprit and help minority students feel safe. At the same time, Aki's daughter is a student, and not shy about voicing her progressive opinions and agitating for real change.

It's an interesting juxtaposition to see Aki, who was raised to fit in an ignore hateful comments, to become a model minority, and her daughter, who feels it's important to take a stand and fight for what you believe in. Aki takes much too long to reclaim her values and stand up for herself, but once she does it's yery satisfying. Overall. a good read, but of the very niche variety.

The plot was interesting and the first half started off story but plateaued for me a little in the middle.

I loved the premise, title and cover! Just wish the rest of the book had lived up to all that promise. As a teacher at vaunted Wesley Friends School, Aki Hayashi-Brown was afforded the opportunity to enroll her daughter Megumi (Meg or Gummy) as a student, 14 years prior. Now that Meg is a junior, and the school is embroiled in a class war/hate crime cover-up, Aki's job and future are at stake.

While I appreciated the scene where Aki the mom gets out-of-control rip-roaring drunk on just a drink and a half, I did not like the dangerous way she tends to rage drive, particularly with her terrified 17-yr old daughter in the passenger seat. There is something disturbingly superficial and lacking about Aki's level of communication and interaction with those closest to her, from her family members to her supposed "Yin to her Yang" bestie; which I think would have made sense and been interesting had it been presented more clearly as generational trauma or spectrum-based behaviour. The fact that Aki even has a father came as a complete surprise to me about three-quarters of the way through the book. Meg leads the People of Color student group, but then when she resigns as editor of the school paper, her mother freaks out about her not having any extracurriculars, and how that will impact her college search. Four pages after Aki bemoans the fact that Meg only ever calls her "mother," the girl then addresses her repeatedly as "mom". Oft repeated phrases like "reclaimed oak hallways" and the volume of typos in the ARC made me think Emma Sasaki might be AI. But having said all that, I liked the way the story ends, that Aki's character develops in a progressive way forward. And I absolutely love how an overriding message of gratitude comes out of such a sarcastic sounding title!

I know the publishing description has been comparing this to Celeste Ng's work (which I'm not too familiar with and the one book I read by her I intensely disliked), but I think Yellowface meets Gossip Girl is a better description.

I really liked the depiction of Aki, who has internalized the model minority myth, struggling with social justice issues her daughter is so vocal and aggressive about. Watching her close that gap between them was so satisfying, and I'm pleased by the character development that went into that. While initially torn between knowing something is wrong but wanting to protect her daughter, Aki starts to reconnect with her values. It took forever for her to grow a spine, but once she started putting others in their place it was extra satisfying remembering the doormat she started off as. Sometimes it just takes a racist, hypocritical prep school to break you down before you can rebuild, you know?

This was obviously an arc and there were many jarring formatting issues that I had to glaze past. Overall, this was an indulgent read that clearly depicts the problems of fake posturing towards diversity and inclusion in elitist spaces.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The beginning was tough for me. I'm not from the US and I never attended a prestigious private school, so I was lost with the names of universities thrown in, the way the system was working (it's not the same in France, I think ?), all the parents' names, all the students' names, all the teachers' names ! Moreover, it was an ARC, so not corrected, and it showed (mistakes, punctuation, repeats, inconsistency in names). There was also Meg : I know she was a teenager, but she was so aggressive all the time that I found it hard to like her or at least understand her. Aki felt so passive, too. All this got me wondering if I really wanted to read this, but I was doing it for free in exchange for a review, so I carried on.

At almost 40% of the book, I may have become used to all this, because I got more engaged with what was going on and the hypocrisy of the upper class showing through their verbose handing of the situation, refusal to really address the problem and, finally, their brutality and contempt. It reminded me of the French government. Same language, same privileged class that keeps itself to itself, same brutality. I also appreciated that not only racism was addressed via the story, but also equality.

Past that point, I was really engrossed and wanting to find out how it would all turn out, even if I wasn't very hopeful. I was happy to see Aki evolve. I just think the end would have been different in real life, let's be realistic. However, I really loved this novel and found it really good for a first try.

It's a Privilege Just to Be Here by Emma Sasaki was a great debut title.
I was flipping the pages so fast. I couldn’t out it down.

Thank You NetGalley and Alcove Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

A thoughtful poke at the elite progressive educational community. Much of this rings sadly true. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Aki's struggle to balance everything will no doubt resonate with readers.

This was a book I haven't seen at all on bookstagram, nor did I hear anything about it. I tend to keep up with new books in the genres and topics I'm interested in, so that was quite strange. I requested the ARC because the lack of its online visibility made me all the more curious. Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Pres for providing it in exchange for my honest review 💜

Even though the ARC was quite unfinished and had some errors, I still mostly enjoyed it. It was a very important story about how institutions often put up a front of diversity and equity while the actual practice couldn't even be further from that and they still uphold the privilege of those who have the wealth and power. It's also about how sometimes people of color have to unwillingly serve the very powers that oppress them, just to ensure that they get opportunities that otherwise wouldn't be available. The mc's moral dilemma around this question takes up most of the narrative, along with the investigation into the hate crime that happens on campus.

I found these topics very thought-provoking and I assume the author, Emma Sasaki has some inside knowledge about prep schools because the only info I was able to find about her was that she attended a school just like the one in the book. I have no idea how autobiographical it is but I got the feeling several times that it was quite personal.

Unfortunately, I have some criticism too.

I usually like slow-moving books but I got frustrated with this one a few times. The pacing is somehow not working, a lot of the dialog doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And I don't say this often but the book could have benefited from being a bit shorter.

Some things are a bit corny, like the fact that so many of the characters often converse by reciting quotes from prominent social justice figures. This never works for me. I've never met anyone who talks like this in real life so it feels artificial and overly didactic.

And while there's real conflict and injustice in the story, I don't enjoy narratives where a lot of the tension arises from a simple lack of communication between characters who have a close enough relationship to simply sit down for an honest conversation. There was a lot of that here and it was so frustrating.

It was also difficult to decide based on the tone whether this was intended to be YA or Adult fiction.

But even considering all of the above, I still recommend it if you're interested in social justice, racism in education and like books with academic settings. The finished copy might have less of the issues I pointed out and I've seen plenty pf positive reviews so it's definitely worth giving it a chance!

It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here

My investment in this story came and went, but by the end I was really thankful to have finished. While It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here is largely a work of fiction, it is clearly stated in the Author’s note that it inspired by real events. Unfortunately, this is all too believable. Racism is just as prominent in places of prestige and privilege as anywhere else. This novel illustrates that well in the elite private school setting.

This is an intentionally frustrating read on several fronts. Both the events described and the characters portrayed raised my pulse and made me want to scream.

Thank you Emma Sasaki, Dreamscape Media, Alcove Press, and NetGalley for my digital and audio advanced review copies!

I’m really impressed that this is a debut novel. In It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here Emma Sasaki created a story full of compelling characters, social commentary, and a fast-paced plot. Aki Hayashi-Brown has been a teacher at the prestigious Wesley Friends School for years. It’s one of the schools where Washington DC elites send their children. When someone graffities “Make Wesley White Again” on the school, tensions break out within the teachers, students, and parents.

I felt like this story was such a great exploration of the hypocrisy that can arise when people are trying to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion. Aki is one of the few teachers of color at the school and is always featured in marketing material to make Wesley seem more diverse. After the graffiti she is appointed to be the head of the Racial Equity Task Force, but they don’t really take her opinions into account. It’s all about the image rather than making real change to find the culprit and help minority students feel safe.

There were also interesting conversations about the generational divide in how people deal with microaggressions and bigotry. When Aki was a child her parents encouraged her to just ignore things that were said to her, and that’s basically what she tried to do. While her daughter Meg finds it important to fight for what she believes in and try to make real change happen.

While this book does tackle a lot of big conversations about important topics, it’s also a fun read. There are plenty of moments that are poking fun at the elite parents and the ways that they act when creating school fundraisers or just being out of touch with the rest of the world. There’s also some really great moments of friendship between Aki and a few of the other teachers at the school.

Overall this was a quick, fun read that broaches some big topics about privilege, racism, inequality, and how to fight for social change. Definitely check it out if it sounds interesting to you!

What an amazing debut! Witty, sharp, darkly funny, and packed with irony, I was absolutely enthralled by this book from beginning to end — even when it (purposefully) made me feel so mad.

While the main focus of this book is undoubtedly the absurdity of elite prep school parents and administration, and their unwillingness to actually address racial inequality instead of just pandering, my favorite aspect of the novel was the exploration of fraught mother-daughter relationships (Aki and Meg) and the struggles of being a teenage girl. It felt so raw and authentic. The reader can see that both Aki and Meg are imperfect human beings, blinded by generational differences and differing expectations, who are under immense pressure and deal with it in different ways.

I admit that I sometimes felt immensely frustrated with Aki because she really was such a doormat for most of this book, even to the detriment of her daughter and their relationship. But the novel did a good job in exploring why Aki behaves the way that she does and her growing a spine is a big part of her character arc.

The depiction of modern-day teenagers wasn’t perfect. 17-year-old Meg and her social justice-minded friends sometimes sounded more like cartoonish right-wing caricatures of “the woke mob” than actual teenagers doing activism for the first time. A lot of the lingo/slang is outdated and made the book feel like it was set in 2017 rather than 2024.

My biggest disappointment with this book was the narrow scope. This story really narrows in on racism and to a lesser extent, classism with other forms of bigotry (sexism, homophobia, etc) only in the periphery. There were a few scenes around homophobic or misogynistic behavior but considering this is a novel about an elite private school, I was surprised that it wasn’t explored more. This honestly makes the book feel pretty unrealistic at times.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.

A sadly true look at our society. I found It's A Privilege Just to Be Here to be honest, although this book is fictional, looks at today's racial climate and what non-Caucasians face in supposedly safe places like work and school.

I live in the DC area, so was excited to read this fictionalized novel centered around a prestigious Quaker school in DC. The geographic details only added to how much I loved this book. An exploration of class, race, the haves and have nots set against a 'progressive' school committed to protecting their reputation and standing above all else. I did not want this book to end, and enjoyed that all the loose ends weren't tied up at the end. Highly recommend this novel!

If you have attended a private school, or taught at one, you're either going to love or hate this book. As a former teacher at a Quaker, elite, independent school in DC--very much like the one this book is about--I found a lot of this book triggering. So much of it is realistic: the entitled parents, the fake posturing towards diversity and equity, the rampant racism and prejudice. If you're curious about what this world is like, this is a book with a lot of the main characteristics of it. I do wish, however, it had a bit more heart and humor. Much of the humor in this book is pretty bleak and cynical. Yes, the world of very elite private schools is bleak, but there are moments of light, Students can be amazing. The character of Meg, with her energy and enthusiasm for justice, is a good example of hope in the book. I think maybe I was hoping for a new perspective while reading this book, but it was more like reading a thinly memoir of a very beleaguered parent/teacher.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

I loved It's a Privilege Just to be Here by Emma Sasaki

This book is told from the perspective of Aki, a teacher at a (fictional) prestigious Quaker private prep school in DC, known for having alumni that include the president's children. Aki's daughter Meg attends the school and is a junior, and while both Aki and Meg experience microaggressions and prejudice on a regular basis at the school, Aki firmly believes that by getting Meg to graduate from this prestigious school she is helping set her on the right path for college and beyond. When Meg is caught up in a scandal related to racism and graffiti at the school, and Aki is thrust by the school's admin into a made-up smoke screen of a DEI position, this goal of getting Meg to graduation seems more and more complicated.

Filled with unique or diverse perspectives, such as the Quaker school, the experiences of Japanese-American women, and the elite private school students and parents, this book is super interesting! I loved the weaving in of the social media posts and chat forum quotes as it really gave you the feeling of being part of this school community. I work in a higher income community and sometimes I see these attempts to use privilege and power in negative ways, so I could relate to some of what was going on in the story. I also could relate to Aki's constant balancing act and how much gets thrown on her by admin and parents! Teachers or anyone familiar with private or elite schools will see some connections for sure. This book is a really great opportunity to consider and reflect on racist assumptions, microaggressions and the experiences of minorities in prestigious schools. It also gives some great insight into what happens when organizations pretend to address racism and prejudice but don't actually put the work in to support the diverse members of the workplace or community.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher @crookedlanebooks alcovepress for giving me the chance to read and review this awesome book. It's pubdate is June (I believe) so definitely get this on the preorder now!