Bitter
by Akwaeke Emezi
read by Bahni Turpin
Listening Library, 2022. 7 hours, 11 minutes.
Review written October 10, 2022, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review
I heard great things about the author’s National Book Award Finalist last year, Pet, but I never did get it read. Now I am going to get my hands on it. This riveting novel was unusual and powerful. Bitter is a prequel to Pet. It’s set in a time of unrest in a city named Lucille.
Bitter is a queer Black girl who got recruited out of unloving foster care to attend a school for artists called Eucalyptus. Unfortunately, Eucalyptus is right in the city center, and the sounds of protests and violence come into Bitter’s room and fill her with fear. Some of her good friends have ties with Assata, an organization behind the protests, working for justice. Lucille is a place with police brutality based on skin color and where people in power exploit the poor.
Meanwhile, Bitter has a secret skill. She can paint small creatures and make them come to life with a drop of her blood. They don’t last long, but making them helps Bitter feel grounded and less alone.
But when one of Bitter’s friends gets horribly injured at a protest, Bitter gets angry. And she paints something bigger and more terrifying than she ever has before. When this creature comes to life, things start that Bitter doesn’t know how to control.
Something I appreciated in this novel, as opposed to some fantasy novels I read last year — I appreciated that the main characters shrank back from unnecessary violence, even in service to a needed revolution, even against people who had done terrible things. Of course, not everyone felt the same way, and events set in motion aren’t always easy to stop — but I appreciated the value placed on human life — even the life of humans who had done evil things.
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