Blackout

Tiffany D. Jackson's sections make for the best part of this book; they're the glue of all the stories and also the opening act for each one, seamlessly connecting them by people or place. Every story is somehow interconnected, usually mentioning a familial relationship to someone another person.

I like the fact that everything is connected but is effectively their own self-contained stories. You get more out of reading them all, but you could easily just read the parts you want or like the most.

Angie Thomas's is probably the weakest, feeling a bit forced in the aspect of how the protagonist for it is connected to the rest of the story (despite being from Mississippi but in New York City for a school trip); it feels rather contrived and weird. Despite that, I appreciate that it's a 'love story' in the form of a person choosing themselves and opting to want a break from their relationship so that way they can figure out themselves.

Out of all of them, I think Nicola Yoon's is my favourite, followed by Dhonielle Clayton's. Despite being the two successful straight romances in the book, they just hit the kind of cute notes that I really enjoy.

The others (by Nic Stone and Ashley Woodfolk) both felt a little forced at times. There were a couple portions that really made it feel like a heavy-handed liberal text with no subtlety in the slightest, such as the casual namedropping of Stacey Abrams (as the name of a school that some of the kids attend). Perhaps it's because I wish we'd see more stories (and even small details within those stories) looking outside of the political infrastructure for inspiration because the world is so much more than that (and that also tends to be where assimilation exists the most).

I think my main frustration for all of the stories is that love is really only represented in one way, even when there are queer characters. With the inclusion of queer romances (and those being the first two stories in the book), I was kind of hoping they'd explore what love could look like to an asexual and/or aromantic person. It's fine that they didn't (other things can), but I felt like it would've been a neat thing to include with everything else (especially since we have two straight couples, some gay boys, and some lesbian girls). It's not their responsibility to include it, but it would've been interesting to see or have another author participate in the project, being the one to create that story.