I don't usually reach for story collections, but I totally fell for the title and the cover. Turns out my instincts were right - Shut Up You're Pretty is a beautiful, engaging and highly emotional story collection connected by one character, Loli, from her childhood to adulthood.

Tea Mutonji's writing is heartfelt and original. She is not afraid to explore the depths of sexuality, gender and class in a poetic way which has really stuck with me. I especially liked the parts on Loli's complicated sexual relationships because Mutonji put into words many of my own thoughts buried at the back of my head.

While I completely understand the reason behind it, this book is predominantly about sad, disturbing events in Loli's life - and I really wanted something good to happen to her, but it didn't.

On the other hand, as I got this publication in the audiobook version, I was blown away by the narration, so I highly recommend this way of devouring this book.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of stories connected by one character and moving across moments in time.

It is a raw, poignant, heartbreaking collection, refreshingly unafraid to look the realities of growing girls, poverty, and the emergence and ownership of one's own sexuality, right in the eye. It is unflinching in its approach to the realities of what a somewhat untethered and wild girl might do to come into herself and how she might perceive the world and its possibilities to her. The collection also embraces a Congolese heritage placed in America and confronts relationships between girls and their mothers, girls and other girls as friends, and girls and other girls as sources of intimacy. It also addresses sexuality imposed on girls and women by the world at large, and specifically how men treat the female body as a source of pleasure, worship, and target of brutality.

Tea Mutonji is a beautiful writer, honing in with piercing accuracy on all of these moments and observations. I look forward to her continued publications.

This is the type of book that hurts in a good way.

This is a short story collection about Loli through her hard life as a child and then as an adult. She meets people but no one ever sticks around.

It felt like every chapter was an episode of Loli's life. I wished that in the next chapter Loli would be happier but instead she's either prostituted herself or has become a mistress. The book is very well written but I was hoping for a proper conclusion or character growth.

The audiobook narration was pleasant. I love the voice she does for Loli's best friend.

This audiobook is provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Some of the chapters seemed really similar, lots of stories about complicated sexual relationships. I don't think I knew that was what this book was going to be about and it was uncomfortable and kind of depressing and sad. Some of the stories seemed rushed while others went on for too long. There could have been a better balance.

It was pretty interesting at some parts. A few big parts in the book seemed rushed. It went from a story about a girl going through struggles in her family life to the main character associating with the wrong crowd. She spiraled down hill real quick making bad choices. It was a lot in a short amount of time.

Shut up you’re pretty
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji is a very good book that discusses a lot of important issues.

Shut Up You’re Pretty is a collection of stories about a Congolese girl and her family that immigrate to Canada and goes through her becoming a woman. The description makes it sound like Shut Up You’re Pretty is about different women. However, it is actually all about the same person from girlhood to becoming a woman.

Shut Up You’re Pretty starts with Loli having a buzz cut. She came to Canada with a male passport so had to shave her head. When she meets her best friend, Joli, Joli asks if she is a boy or a girl. This sets the stage for the gender issues and sexual identity that comes up many times in Shut Up You’re Pretty. This short series collection really demonstrates feminism and the importance of feminism. Shut Up You’re Pretty has multiple forms of sexual experimentation and sex workers. Teen pregnancy is also represented.

Shut Up You’re Pretty discusses many important issues. Shut Up You’re Pretty discusses race issues with the main character being a poor black woman. Loli and her family are also immigrants which brings its own difficulties.

Shut Up You’re Pretty also contains drug use, depression, and suicide. Shut Up You’re Pretty contains characters with eating disorders.

I’m sure you can tell from my description so far that this is an intense book. So many difficult topics were discussed, but Mutonji did a fantastic job expresses the issues in a way that didn’t downplay the issue but also didn’t make it difficult to read being overly descriptive. I am so glad I read Shut Up You’re Pretty. I felt like I really got a look into a life that is completely different than mine even though it’s a fictional story.

From the beginning of the story I really liked Loli and wanted her to have a good life and be happy. Of course this made parts of the story more difficult to read. I also loved her interactions with Joli and how their relationship changed over the years. Their relationship was very realistic. I felt like everything about this book which was my favorite part. I can’t believe this was Mutonji’s debut story collection and can’t wait to read more of her work in the future.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. I thought Jemeni did a great job narrating and really set the tone for the story.

I really enjoyed Shut Up You’re Pretty. I recommend it to fans of Brit Bennett and fans of Red at the Bone because they made me feel the same. I would not recommend this to anyone that is triggered or uncomfortable with drugs, teen pregnancy, eating disorders, depression, and sexual exploration.

Thank you NetGalley and Bespeak Audio Editions for Shut Up You’re Pretty.