GROWN

An aspiring singer is taken advantage of by a superstar.

Since moving to the suburbs from Queens, 17-year-old Enchanted has been suffering. Although her Grandma’s apartment was cramped with everyone all together, Enchanted got to do the things she loves the most—swimming in the ocean, hanging out with her Grandma, and singing. Now, neither her new neighborhood nor her new private school is diverse, and she has to spend her free time watching her siblings. However, she does join the school swim team, and water is used as a powerful metaphor throughout the book. When Enchanted catches the eye of a 28-year-old music superstar at a singing competition, she pushes doubt and her parents’ misgivings aside and goes on tour with him. Enchanted is a naïve protagonist, but the decisions she makes in order to launch her career are plausible. As the relationship turns abusive, Enchanted must find the courage to escape. The narrative unfolds in nonchronological order, and toward the end, as the timelines merge, it feels a bit clunky, but the storytelling overall is captivating. The novel shines light on biases against young Black women and the victim-blaming that so often occurs when a predator has power, fame, and money. Major characters are Black.

Compelling; Jackson excels in writing books steeped in social commentary.