Justine Manzano I first heard of The City We Became by N.K. Jeminsin from the writing community I work with, WriteHive. They’d done a group read of the book a few months before in the Book Nook channel of our little Discord server. At the time, I hadn’t had time to join in, but everyone in the Book Nook was raving. So I knew I had to check this one out. That was before I looked at the synopsis, and was all in.
Book Summary:
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn’t remember who he is, where he’s from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it’s as if the paint is literally calling to her.
In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
And they’re not the only ones.
Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She’s got six.
What I Enjoyed:
This book was a love letter to New York City, the good and the bad, and it made my heart swell, at a time where New York City is still riding the end of a wave that nearly killed it. The city that never sleeps was hit, perhaps the hardest of all American cities, and we’re still struggling to get back on our feet. To read a story in which each of the boroughs of our city have personalities that mirror the positive, (the get up and go, the hustle and bustle, the musicality, the toughness, the sharp wit, the rugged independence) and the negative, (the ruthless nature, the do or die–literally–of the corporate climb, the shadows of racism, the obliviousness) of my city made me miss the city that was even more. I was certain it would rebound even stronger. Because that’s what New York does–it thrives.
What works about the personification of the city in this way is that it creates some really excellent characters that you can’t help but root for. There’s Manny, a grad school student who gets to reinvent himself the moment he walks into the city proper–except, not through the traditional way. He literally forgets who he was before. There’s Bronca, an older lady whose life was steeped in the violence and beauty of the Bronx, who is prepared to stomp her way through any threat. There’s Brooklyn, who hears the music of the city, but doesn’t let it define her, carving out a life for her child and her father, and taking care of the rest of the city with business savvy and connections.
The magic system was outrageous, but I believe that was because it was intensely inventive. Magic and power that is based on the understanding of what makes NYC the city that never sleeps: money, traffic, rap, combat boots, and a native connection to the land are all used as a power at some point in the story, each avatar of the city getting their own draining but effective ability against the enemy.
And who is the enemy, exactly? That’s where the really fun part takes off. Some of you may not know this, but H.P. Lovecraft, creator of Cthulu and many other fun Edritch creatures, was a MAJOR racist. Everything in The City We Became rails against racism, with the heart of the city being made up of Lenape Natives, Black Americans, Tamils, and one definitely white person, with some questionable priorities (avoiding spoilers best as I can). But there are such heavy references to Lovecraft, and this story draws heavily on his influence, while completely turning his ideas on their ear, and I love that. In the year of Lovecraft Country, both of these takes by Black Americans are so welcome in our current landscape.
What I’d Avoid:
There were a few things in this book that I didn’t care for as much, although as a whole I was a fan.
There wasn’t more than maybe one white ally in this entire book, and I know that isn’t a true representation of this city. But I think that was the point. I don’t think white people like me were supposed to be terribly comfortable reading it. That’s not the part I would avoid. That’s just the lead up.
The part I would avoid is a problem inherent in when you give a character the traits of an entire city. No group is a monolith. And that is true of NYC too. To make an entire borough come off as racist, an entire borough come off as dangerous and edgy, or even an entire borough come off as nervous nerdy mathematicians felt a bit odd. And that’s the weird thing about this story conceit. It’s clever, but when one tries to really gaze into what this all means, it ends up feeling like stereotyping…which is a strange thing in a book as anti-racist as this. Maybe I’m missing the point here. Which is cool. I can accept that’s a possibility. This book wasn’t written for me. And that’s fine.
Separately, there was a bit of Instalove that was a bit much. A character seeing another character and being instantly willing to die for him is a little over-the-top. And I get that these characters are being driven by some pretty powerful magic here, but still. If they’d had even one interaction, I may have been okay with it. But as it was…
What I Can Learn From It:
While sitting back and listening to the views of this black woman who had a lot to say about New York City, I learned a lot about the way people that are not like me view the city I’ve lived in all my life. I also learned a lot about allowing myself to be as weird as I want to be as far as magic systems. This story is also SO voicey. It has a voice that pulls you in from page one. And it sounds like a New Yorker’s voice. The authenticity of the voice in this very bizarre story is amazing.
Would I Recommend It:
Absolutely. This was such a cool book with so many incredible twists. I can’t wait to see what the book’s planned sequel has in store.