I finished reading Nightcrawling a few hours ago and I already know it’s going to stay with me for a very long time.

In Leila Mottley’s debut novel, we meet Kiara Johnson, a seventeen-year old living in Oakland with her older brother Marcus. They live in an apartment complex like so many others in America; full of poor people trying to find their way out of the life they’re living. Kiara and Marcus are on their own, with Kiara being the one to figure out how to survive with no job, money or guidance, leading her to a lifestyle that plunges her into the darkest side of life her young self should never had to experience.

To make matters worse, her nightcrawling leads Kiara to the worst side of the police, which was so incredibly hard to read. She gets sucked into basically being at the beck and call of the Oakland Police Department, who prey on her desperation to take care of herself, her brother, and the young boy who lives in her complex who is being neglected by his mother. I had so much empathy for Kiara because instead of being a normal teenager preparing for college, she’s out in the world taking care of everyone but herself.

First, Leila Mottley is an absolutely incredible writer. The fact that she wrote about something so raw and disturbing at her age is amazing. The novel is written with the vulnerable in mind, without exploiting their lives or putting them through terrible things for dramatic effect.

Second, this book really embodies what Black women go through even from an early age. The amount of suffering and sacrifice expected of us is exhausting. We are expected to be mothers, fathers, leaders and banks without any help. Kiara is no different. She literally has no one to count on in the ways that matter (except for her friend Alè) but still takes responsibility for a child that is not her own. I wanted to step into the book and save her, to let her know that there is someone who cares. There is a particular scene in the book that made my blood boil, so much so that I had to stop reading the book for the night.

I really cannot stress enough how great Nightcrawling is and it is no wonder that Oprah chose it as a book club pick. If you haven’t read it yet, I would recommend you put it on your TBR immediately. It is a stunning debut and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Content Warnings: sexual assault, drug addiction, police sexual violence/brutality, statutory rape, child neglect.

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