Review: Black Girl Unlimited

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Echo Brown, actress, and storyteller has written a moving YA novel in Black Girl Unlimited: the Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard. The novel is infused with magical realism and enumerates the nineteen lessons of becoming a wizard. Teenage Echo has been growing up in a challenging situation in Cleveland. A straight-A student, she struggles with family stability. Her father abandoned the family, her mother is an addict, her brothers are pushing down on the corner, and Echo tries to remain laser-focused on her goals. She wants to perform well enough in school to go to her dream college- Dartmouth. How she manages to do this while surviving abuse, neglect, and sexual assault is a powerful story of survival. Brown focuses less on the overall reality of being black in America and more on the realities facing black women. The rawness of the effects of the physical and sexual abuse she says are commonly visited upon women of her community is described in terms of metaphor- the black veil that drops around a person who has been abused or the floating on the ceiling dissociation that allows a victim to survive their abuse.

The audiobook, narrated by the author, is a vivid performance of her book. You can check out more about Echo Brown here.

This is a powerful book but it may be difficult for some who have been through similar experiences to read. As a result, I offer content warnings.

CW: rape, child sexual abuse, murder, alcoholism, drug abuse, addiction, overdose

I received a Digital Review Copy and a Libro.fm audio review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Want to buy a copy of Black Girl Unlimited from your local independent bookstore? Click HERE.

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