🎬 Read this if you like:
Get Out
Don’t Worry Darling
⏰ Best time to read:
When you’ve had enough of respectability politics
📝 Themes:
Psychological Thriller, Horror, Race & Racism, Suburbia, Black Nationalism, Family, Blackness & Identity, Community
👍 What I liked:
One of Our Kind has a fantastic, haunting conclusion. This book is also a warning against apathy, and a clarion call for community care and never forgetting where you came from.
❓ Synopsis: Jasmyn Williams is a Black woman and public defender living in L.A. with her husband King and son Kamau. Starting from nothing, the family uses their new money to move to a Black utopian suburb called Liberty. Here, Jasmyn hopes to leave racism behind. But the residents of Liberty seem overly focused on self rather than community care. When even those like-minded to herself begin to convert, Jasmyn wonders whether moving to Liberty was a grave mistake.
📣 Review: One of Our Kind is a creepy horror thriller that dives deep into what it means to be Black in America. While at times predictable and on the nose, some readers might also take issue with how expressions of Black identity are discussed by the MC (who serves as the foil to her apathetic neighbors). Yet, the book’s lesson is an important one. Love it or hate it, you’ll be thinking about this book long after the final page.

This was billed as The Stepford Wives meets Get Out which was pretty spot on. This was such an interesting and dark read. While this starts slow, it did pick up and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen to Jasmyn and King. I enjoyed the light horror aspects in this one and definitely was shocked by the ending. This is one I won’t forget soon - I do think it will have readers divided and will bring lots of great discussions.

I want to preface this review by stating the obvious: my opinion should be taken with a giant white woman sized grain of salt. Before you read (or instead of reading) my review, please consider those of Goodreads reviewers Casey R. Kelley (59741075-casey-r-kelley), Erin (5638070-erin), and Shanice (58552466-shanice).

This book was incredibly disappointing. As stated, it's a Stepford Wives meets Get Out racial horror story about a Black utopian suburb of LA where all is not what it seems. Jasmyn, King, and their son Kamau move to Liberty to escape racism, specifically police brutality. Jasmyn, a public defender, feels strongly about bearing witness to acts of racism; she watches all the videos of police violence no matter how difficult. King mentors at risk boys through a program in LA. When they move to Liberty, Jasmyn is surprised and unnerved by how blase everyone seems about racism. No one seems affected like she is and everyone seems more interested in wellness and self care. The novel progresses to its big reveal.

My problems:
Either this whole book is satire (in which case it just doesn't quite work), or it's wildly anti Black. Yoon seems to think that there is only one way to be a good Black person, and it is to be constantly steeped in trauma. To take time for joy, healing, self preservation, or anything other than rage and activism is to be a traitor.

While the conversation about eurocentric beauty ideals is certainly a valid one in the world of anti Black racism, I don't think the solution is the denigration of those (mainly women!) who choose different styles than the protagonist. Nearly absent from Yoon's critique is a look at the structural forces behind those eurocentric trends, instead she focuses on individual choice and how those choices make Black people (again, mainly women) bad Black people.

Furthermore, Yoon doesn't seem to acknowledge that joy and self care are in and of themselves a mode of resistance and political radicalism. Audre Lorde herself said "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." In Yoon's world, to take time for yourself; to take time for joy and happiness for the sake of happiness, is not only wasteful, but antithetical to Blackness. Unless I've grievously missed the point (which I may have; I acknowledge that this book may just not have been meant for me) this is heartbreaking.

I would not recommend this because I think it's honestly damaging and hurtful.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to the concept of this one. It kept my interest for a good portion of it, but the last 1/4 just felt so rushed and underdeveloped. The characters were often unlikeable, but I'm pretty sure that was due to the satirical nature of the story.

Speculative horror with scathing social commentary? Sign me up. Unfortunately I struggled to connect with any of the characters. The premise is so intriguing and Yoon’s writing is usually so crisp (I’m a big fan of her YA work) that I was super excited to start reading. I continued reading with the hope it would grab my attention.

It may be a case of the wrong book at the wrong time for the wrong reader, so I intend to revisit this book in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the chance to read an advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book will ring familiar to many readers who are older or who are movie watchers.

Jasmyn and her husband King have moved to a Utopian community where only black people live and work. They want a safe environment to raise their young son and the baby that Jasmyn is carrying. The community is a planned community and the home are gorgeous. But the people Jasmyn are meeting don't seem to care about racism or their black heritage. Even King is more interested in the wellness spa than in their previous activities.

Jasmyn also misses the Black culture of her previous life because it isn't in her new community. Slowly, the horror of watching her few friends start acting more "white" is too much for Jasmyn to bear

Provocative Social Commentary – Fascinating Read

This novel is Yoon’s fourth book and the first written for adults. It is sharply crafted and offers an inquisitive reader a page turner from the first page to the last. I was not always enamored with each section, but I felt that there would be a twist, and I had to keep reading.

The main character is Jasmyn Williams, a public defender, married to Kingston Williams, a newly successful venture capitalist who also mentors at-risk youth. They have a six year old son, Kamau. Jasmyn is pregnant with another boy. They seem to have a solid marriage. Kingston convinces his wife to move to Liberty, a Black only community in a suburb of Los Angeles. Jasmyn is reticent about the move. She is not materialistic; her goal is to help people and have a strong, loving family.

They move into a mansion in Liberty, very expensive with promises of a luxurious life where her family can thrive. Jasmyn does not fit the mold. She is an attorney who aids the oppressed Black population. She expected Liberty to be a community of liberals who also were seeking justice. Not so. Inundated with spa treatments and expensive parties are not her cup to tea. She has difficulty finding friends of the same mind, but she does find some like-minded women who seem to have her philosophy.

Her husband, “King,” is patient with her while he encourages her to take part in the Wellness program and acclimate to this wealthy environment. Jasmyn is reticent and this restrained behavior begins to annoy her husband and her close friends. She is soon to deliver her second son and the author brings all the factors to a startling crescendo. It is unrestrained literary fiction. This is a Black Lives Matter main character living in another world with alternate beliefs.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Knopf for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Jasmyn, her husband King, and their son Kamau move to Liberty - an all Black community that claims to be a utopia. She's pregnant with their second son, a public defender, someone looking out for community and how they give back, and trying to find her place in their new suburb. The further you get into the story, you know that something is very, very wrong in Liberty. Jasmyn has to not only believe it, but figure it out, before it's too late.

The way the tension builds in this book is fantastic - as more and more information is revealed about the founders of Liberty and their backstories, the more people around Jasmyn change with no explanation, the way she's gaslit by everyone around her so many times...the dread just pools in your stomach. I don't know why this is being called a thriller because it's a horror novel, straight up.

While some of the things in this book are not possible, it's important to remember that every incident referred to here between a Black person and police, with a school district, with a hospital, are right from the headlines. I could think of real people for every fictional amalgamation in these pages. The people in the book are not real - the things they describe happening to them and their loved ones are facts.

In this speculative fiction / social horror novel, Jasmyn and Kingston Williams and their little son Kamau have just moved into Liberty, the exclusive Black community in California. Everyone in Liberty is Black: the residents, the teachers, the police, everyone. King takes to the Liberty way of life immediately, but Jasmyn is slower to adapt, finding Liberty isn’t at all what she imagined it would be. Does something more sinister lurk beneath Liberty’s utopian façade?

I’ve been sitting with my thoughts on this one for a few days, because my feelings are so mixed. The novel’s concept is ambitious and thought-provoking, messy and uncomfortable and taking on important themes. The story gripped me immediately and I devoured it in less than 24 hours. But maybe that’s the problem. Nicola Yoon had such a great, creepy idea here but didn’t really give it enough room to grow. It had so much potential but ultimately felt rushed, especially at the conclusion, and left me wishing for more depth. Speaking of more depth, the characters overall are rather flat and underdeveloped. Jasmyn’s passion for social justice and “Blacker-than-thou” attitude come off as one-dimensional and judgmental. Although that may have been Yoon’s intent, more nuanced characters would have made this a richer, more compelling story. That said, I still think this is a worthwhile read that would make for some fascinating book club discussion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me an advanced copy of this book.

This review contains spoilers:

I've been struggling with how to write this review and rate this book--on the one hand, I found it enthralling despite some pacing issues, on the other hand, there are incisive critiques about how the author treats race. I am not Black, so I encourage you to read reviews written by Black readers because this book runs heavy with themes of racism and anti-blackness that I do not have the lived experience to speak to.

Public Defender Jasmyn who is pregnant with her second child, her husband King, and their son Kamau have moved from a modest apartment in LA to a palatial mansion in Liberty, an affluent, all-Black neighborhood whose property values rival Beverly Hills.

Kamau is in a great school and Jasmyn has a beautiful home, but she is unsettled: King is spending less time mentoring Black youth and more time at the wellness center and she can't seem to find like-minded friends who are willing to do the work.

Eventually, Jasmyn meets Keisha and Charles and they form plans to create a Black Lives Matter chapter in Liberty. But no one will join her. And when Keisha and Charles change their hair, get plastic surgery for more eurocentric features, and lose interest in activism, Jasmyn is determined to get her and her family out of Liberty before it happens to them too.

The main critiques of this novel are Jasmyn's colorism and considering suffering essential to Black identity, as well as the community of Liberty treating being white as a solution to all problems. I think it's important to note that a character's attitude does not necessarily reflect an authors opinion.

Jasmyn's colorism and her treatment of trauma as essential to Black identity and experience has consequences--it alienates her from her community and causes discord in her friendships, even outside Liberty. In contrast, her friend Tricia hold says she's going to teach her own unborn child about Black joy and contributions to the culture in addition to the realities of being Black in America and its history.

There are also consequences of whiteness as well: Jasmyn is wiped of her memories, her personality, and most crucially she loses her close relationship with Kamau. He goes from being respectful and closely connected to his mom to neither of those things which illustrate part of the massive cost of becoming white.

I believe this book tried to be a critique of Ibram X. Kendi's Assimilationist vs. Anti-Racist methods and viewpoints, class, and color, but its execution fell flat and was harmful to some of its most important readers. I appreciate what Nicola Yoon attempted, but read it with care and a critical eye.

A bit of a horror novel. Reminds me of Stepford Wives or a recent movie. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

A quick and riveting book about a family that moves to an LA suburb that is marketed as a Black-only utopia, but everything is not as it seems. Very Don’t Worry Darling meets Get Out vibes.

I enjoyed the characters, the pacing, and loved the twist at the end. I think it’s rare to see a fiction novel that confronts racism and social justice issues while also being utterly readable with some funny moments thrown in.

Thank you Knopf and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.

Jasmine and her family have finally made it in their eyes. They have progressed in their careers enough to afford to buy a new place in Liberty, a planned all-black community. Excited to start their new lives, Jasmine and her husband try to fit into their new environment. But Jasmine soon feels like something is wrong. Used to being able to talk about the black experience and issues, she finds that her new neighbors have little interest or reaction to the terrible things happening in the news - are they just privileged enough not to care anymore? Or is something else going on?

One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon is a departure from her previous works - I've only read her YA offerings. This is not a YA title where the stakes are different and people are coming of age. It was well written and hard to describe without spoiling things. I can see how it's not for everyone. It was interesting and thought provoking, a what if. But, not giving spoilers again, it veers towards the fantastical.

This story was hard for me to get into which is disappointing because I loved the summary when I read it. Jasmyn was unlikeable for me from the very first chapter. She came off like she was better than others because she likes to give back to the community and frowned down to others that didn’t the same as she does. She was so judgmental to those that did self care, relaxed their hair (& im not bias because I’m also a natural like Jasmyn) or went to the spa. Like huh?? This story had so much potential I was excited to read it! I loved the idea of black utopia and things are going to take a turn for the worse, but having to basically live in Jasmyn’s head was exhausting. This book could have really been a game changer because of the creative plot, I was looking forward to a black psychological thriller but it honestly missed its mark. It came off heavily anti black, depressing, & just didn’t give the way I thought it was going to. Now this author has a great writing style, she definitely has skills so I may check out her YA books but this one in particular wasn’t for me. Although I didn’t enjoy this one in particular I think it would be a great for group discussions. I’m sure others may enjoy it, it’s a 2.5 read for me. Thankful for the complimentary copy & in return this is my honest review.

Jasmine is struggling to find her place in their new community, Liberty. It’s a planned Black utopia. Despite being around others of her culture, she struggles to find others who value social justice.

Wow this one completely shocked me. It’s a literary Get Out, and has a lot to say that’s said through fictional thrills. I’m not going to say much in this review, as I’m not the audience this book was really written for but I will say I found it very entertaining and thought provoking.

“No wonder even well-off Black people don’t live as long as their White counterparts. The unrelenting stress of racism kills just as effectively as any bullet.”

One of Our Kind comes out 6/11.

While this is a pretty big departure from Yoons previous works - this is an incredibly powerful story about what it means to be Black in America, and the weight of racism on a persons mental health. Set against a back drop of the shooting of an unarmed black man and his 8 year old child, and our protagonists pregnancy we watch as Jasmyn is consistantly emotionally drained from existing as a black woman in a racist world. By moving to liberty she, and her husband King, feel they will be able to provide their children with an all black community to give them both peace from the racism of the world, and a place where they can be seen for who they are instead of just the color of their skin.

But shortly after moving in, Jasmyn feels something about Liberty just .... isn't right. However, no one, including her husband, believes her that something is off about this community.

Part Get Out, Part Stepford Wives - One of Our Kind is conversation about what being black means, and how can you change a system without hurting your mental health.

it's an uncomfortable book - and the characters are not always likable but i found the book very engaging and unsettling.

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was the opposite of the movie "Get Out". Since this book deals with the idea of what do safe spaces look like, especially for Black people, it seemed more like "Get In". It should be a utopia, right? Not necessarily so. The reader goes on the journey right along with Jasmyn, our protagonist, as she is trying to figure out why this place that should be perfect for her just isn't curling over. Something in the milk ain't clean and the reader is just as baffled as she is trying to figure out exactly what it is. The ending was not at all what I expected and I sped through this book in a matter of hours just to sit with a thousand yard stare when I got to the end.

As a love of Yoon’s YA work, I am very bummed to say that this largely didn’t work for me. I thought this could be a clever storyline (Get Out meets The Stepford Wives? Sign me up!) But, while it did READ like a fun horror story, it also was weirdly heavy handed? I felt like I was not in on the joke the entire time. It lacked substance in other parts too. I feel like it could have been a really cool concept but just wasn’t developed the way it should. Perhaps it was the tone of the story that I missed.

Wow, my thoughts are reeling after finishing this book. Though it's not your typical fast-paced mystery thriller, I have to say I was extremely intrigued to get to the end and find out what was going on. It left me with a very unsettled feeling that I have to believe is intentional. At the same time, I was left with a lot of questions about the point of the book (and whether I was even equipped to understand the point). After reading other early reviews, I have to agree and support the many BIPOC readers who are uncomfortable with this book's message and how much unchallenged anti-Blackness was within the pages (especially at the very end). This is written by a Black author and I believe is intended to be satire.. but it's hard to get on-board with a book that so many own-voice readers and reviewers have such issue with. I think I'll have to look in to author interviews and additional reviews that come out to get a firmer grip on my opinions of the book.

The central issue here is that this is a book that feels like it’s trying to be satire without quite understanding what makes satire work. To borrow a paraphrase Ebert (a comparison I’ve made a few times on this blog): Yoon has learned from better media that social commentary is often involved in horror, but she does not seem to understand why. One of Our Kind mentions Stepford Wives and Get Out on the blurb, but without the specificity of purpose and clarity of intent, I’m left baffled at what exactly was meant to be conveyed here. Who are we sympathizing with? What messages are we meant to draw from this text? What is Nicola Yoon trying to tell us?

Not all media is didactic. Obviously. But, see, when you write social satire/horror without having a clear take on the issue, it’s difficult for your audience to empathize with your characters because we’re not sure who we’re supposed to empathize with.

There’s a stunning lack of depth to the plot given the complexity of the subject matter. Gated communities, the cult of wellness, and the intersection of class and race are incredibly rich subject matter, and in a more skilled author’s hands, I could see this working incredibly well. Get Out by way of The Other Black Girl, for example. But Yoon doesn’t give the characters, plot, or themes the time and attention they need to develop. This is a work that exists only in the shadow of giants. One of Our Kind is no Stepford Wives; it’s Don’t Worry Darling.

Beyond the illogical nature of the satire, several key character moments felt confusing and unearned. Jasmyn, our main character, barely exists on the page of her own story. We’re told things about her personality (her activism, her “holier-than-thou” attitude, her anxiety over raising her son, etc.) much more often than we’re shown these things organically. Jasmyn’s son, the impetus for the family’s move to their new gated community, often disappears for chapters at a time, to the point where I was often startled when he reappeared because I’d completely forgotten about him. And Jasmyn is one of the more fully realized characters in the book! Her husband, King, is such a non-entity that I almost expected the twist to be that he was a figment of Jasmyn’s imagination the entire time.

Ultimately, I’m just… I’m frustrated. This is a clunky, boring read that feels more like YA than adult fiction. Except - that isn’t really true! There have been dozens of smart, introspective novels that deal with racism and police brutality more thoughtfully than One of Our Kind. The Hate U Give is the first one that comes to mind. In the end, I have the feeling I could’ve just skipped this book entirely and not missed out on anything at all.