***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of WHO PUT THIS SONG ON? by Morgan Parker in exchange for my honest review.***
 
2.5 STARS

As a teen, writer Morgan Parker feels like an outsider. Her christian high school hardly has any other black kids and her white therapist doesn’t get it. Morgan is suicidally depressed with anger and sadness her most prominent symptoms. 

WHO PUT THIS SONG ON? is a niche book that will probably appeal to a narrow group of readers and for that reason, I’m glad Parker decided to write it. I hate to criticize too harshly a narrative nonfiction story, because, in a sense, I’m criticizing the writer so I’ll focus mostly on what I did like.

Parker immersed me in her experience as a black teen among mostly white. I could see how, from her perspective, comments from her white peers that didn’t overtly intend harm stung. I don’t think the onus should be on her to educate her white friends. I do think a one time response like, “I know you are trying to be supportive, although when you said X I felt Y. Z would have been a better statement” could go a long way. If her peers don’t think they’re doing wrong, they won’t know to correct it. I do NOT blame her, even adults have difficulty addressing issues with people in a way that doesn’t put them on the defensive while expressing a point.

Because I use frequent parentheticals, I enjoyed Parker’s writing style (although on my kindle when the statements started and ended on different pages. I don’t think this is a solvable issue because of the font sizes.) <— parenthetical. 

I’m glad I read WHO PUT THIS SONG ON? and would recommend to some readers even though I didn’t enjoy the reading experience.

Morgan feels cursed. She's clinically depressed, and she's struggling to communicate about it with her family and friends. And in her mostly white California suburb, her teachers, classmates, and even her friends have a way of making her feel like an outsider. So when no one around her gets where she's coming from, how can she figure out who she is?

This is an incredibly raw, real novel that pulls from Morgan Parker's life and teenage experiences. It's not plot-driven, and I think that's a strength. Being a teenager often feels confusing and directionless, and that's really reflected here. I absolutely love the candid discussions of depression and therapy. This is a story that is crucial for so many teens who don't see themselves reflected in pop culture and books. And the way Morgan Parker moves between the fictional elements of the story and her real life is very effective. I love her voice and look forward to reading more of her work.

This was a realistic depiction of various issues that Teens struggle with. I know that lot of Teens in our community will resonate with Morgan's story. There were many avenues that were explored in an extremely informative way. I found it interesting how the author based this off of her own experiences.