Love is a Revolution Review

In Love is a Revolution, Nala, a teen girl from Harlem has to kiss her summer plans of trying every possible ice cream and binge watch Netflix goodbye after telling her crush one tiny lie. As their relationship progresses she is faced with one question: how much of herself can she change until it's not her being loved anymore?

General Impressions

I gotta be honest, I fell for this cover and didn't read the synopsis until this book was in my hands. Let us have more fat, curvy, big-boned…whatever they want to be called girls and boys on covers falling in love and living their best lives!

This was my first book by Renée Watson, an author I had been wanting to try for a long time so I started it with the highest of expectations and was not disappointed. I immediately fell in love not only with the writing itself but with the way Renee perfectly captured the spirit of Harlem and how different generations viewed it.

This is a book about love, but romance is the lesser part of it. It's about the love between friends, family, community, and ourselves as well, perfect for both younger and older teens and anyone else who needs it.

Characters

I liked that Nala wasn't an activist or traumatized by police violence or racism in any way other than knowing those were realities. I liked that I got to read about a young black girl being joyous and flawed in the most common of ways and refusing to be made into a paragon, (not that there is nothing wrong with it, only that I think this kind of stories, where young people of colour don't have to carry the weight of the world, deserve to be told as well).

I really loved to see how Nala and her family not only preached but lived body positivity in its truest sense: how it wasn't about attractiveness but self-love and respect and how your best look was the one you wanted to wear and made you happy.

With the entirety of the cast being POC, there was an emphasis on body positivity focused on black and brown bodies and experiences that sadly, are not often brought to light in a positive or accurate way.

I loved seeing a lot of discussions about different types of hair and hairdos and how nothing that you wore because you wanted was wrong. I loved seeing friendship, sisterhood and art being treated not only as an escape but therapy, particularly in how music by young black artists is an escape and a balm for Nala (the lyrics were beautiful!).

While one of the biggest themes in this book was youth activism, the way Renee was able to write not only about the teens but about their relationships with their parents, grandparents and community added a lot to the story and gave us some amazing characters and caring moments between them.

Conclusions

I loved seeing a young girl growing, stumbling, standing her ground, and choosing to love herself. Looking back, this is a book I will remember not only because of its main message concerning self-love but because of the respectful and truthful way it deals with not only romantic relationships but life: nothing is endless, everything is fleeting but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be acknowledged, treasured and celebrated for all that it meant.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending me this beautiful proof. I'm really glad for all the young people that will get to read it.

Rating 4/5