Every year the London Public Library picks a book to highlight, known as One Book One London. This year, they chose Brother by David Chariandy. I thought this book was very timely as it covers many of the issues our world is dealing with at the moment; racism, police brutality, poverty, immigration, mental health stigma and LGBTQ stigma.
What is the Book Brother About?
The book follows Michael, his brother, Francis, and their friend, Aisha, as they grow up in a low-income area. Their parents are often away working multiple jobs in order to survive. As a result, Michael and Francis look for support outside of their family. Michael develops a close relationship with Aisha and Francis finds community through gang involvement. Their lives all change drastically after a fatal shooting.
Coping with Loss and Grief
What really caught my attention in this book was how each character dealt with grief. As a society, I don’t think that we do a good job talking about death and the grieving process. In turn, I think we often believe that there is a right way to grieve and an appropriate time frame in which to do so. This book dispels those myths, as each character deals with the loss differently. This difference causes conflict initially but ultimately leads to healing.
Police Relations with Racialized Communities
Brother also explores the relationship between police and racialized people. This was very informative for me; I am white and from a middle-class background, in turn I don’t come into contact with the police often. I have heard this is not the case for people with black or brown skin. Although I will never fully understand this experience, this book made me think more about the nuances that occur in the interactions between police and people of colour. This book brought to light how traumatic these interactions can be, even if they seem routine or harmless from the outside.
Struggles of Acceptance and Mental Health
Additionally, Brother highlights the toll of living in a society where you are not accepted on the basis of your skin colour/background. The characters in the book are often under scrutiny. They feel pressure to act in certain ways to make others feel comfortable, regardless of the toll this takes on their mental health. Foregoing your own comfort for the comfort of others is unsustainable and proves to be too much for one of the characters. This is an important topic, and I was glad to see this theme being explored as equality and mental health are linked.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book; it was short and fast paced. I found myself sucked in to the story from the first page and gave me a lot to think about. If you are looking for a new book I would recommend Brother.