Lou is a Black teenager who wakes up in a Los Angeles alley, with no idea who she is or how she got there. She is arrested and ultimately placed with a foster family. Years later, she lands a job writing newspaper obituaries for people who are often ignored. She also makes friends with a Chinese-American actress named Esther. The girls spend many of their days at Esther's father's boxing gym and that is where Lou sees a Black fireman named Jefferson Clayton. Lou has never met Jefferson, but she realizes that she has been drawing his face for years.
We know early on that Lou is not like other people; she is immortal and this life is just one of many she has lived. But Natashia Deón does such an excellent job of planting us firmly in Los Angeles in the 1930s that the more fantastical elements and the flashes of Lou's other lives are jarring. The Perishing takes elements you think you've read before, and uses them to ask if a timeline exists where we finally stop ignoring the pain and trauma of people of color.

The Perishing
By Natashia Deón
Counterpoint LLC November 2021
304 pages
Read via Netgalley

It took me a while to understand this world and this protagonist. I frequently struggle as a reader at the beginning of speculative novels, to understand the rules of the world the author has created. I'm so glad I persevered because the story as it unfolded was continuously surprising, moving, and revelatory.

The Perishing is written with an unusual style and jumps back and forth on time since the main character is an immortal. After getting used to the time jumps, which took me a little while, I enjoyed the book!

THE PERISHING is a unique, half historical fiction, half sci fi novel by Natashia Deon. I found this one a bit hard to follow and complex at times, but overall enjoyed it. Lou is a very compelling character and Deon's writing is great. The premise and multiple view points could be challenging, but overall I enjoyed THE PERISHING and it was a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review.

This book was weird. I wanted to like it, but it was just seemed to be all over the place and the end felt rushed like the author was trying to tie everything together. There were way more chapters from Lou’s perspective back in the 30’s making it hard to really make sense of Sarah’s. I get what the author was trying to do, it just didn’t land well with me. That is not to say that I hated it, because I honestly did not. I really enjoyed Lou’s story and her character’s plot line. It’s just the past/future plot that messed it up for me. The best parts of this were how Deon managed to squeeze in the history of LA, race, and Route 66. I’ve seen this story worked into other narratives before but Deon was really onto something here. I wish the book would have just focused on that era and time, honestly.

A strange and difficult-to-read at times novel focused on the life of one woman who perhaps cannot die, or perhaps can travel through time, or perhaps is one of the few Immortals of the world. Part historical fiction about LA in the 1930s and (a much smaller, admittedly) part speculative fiction. While the story overall didn't quite gel for me in the end, the small insights Deón weaves into her gorgeous prose throughout about grief and race and existence and relationship and community were worth every page.

The premise of this one sounded so interesting, but the writing style just didn't work for me so it was a slow read for me.

My biggest hiccup with this book was that the writing and the way that the story is set up made it so incredibly difficult to read. This book had alot of potential, but it just fell flat and I could not bring myself to finish it.

I wanted to like this book I really really did but I just couldn't find my rhythm with it. The voice was hard for me to connect with and I just didn't identify with any of it. That doesn't mean it was a bad book because it wasn't It just wasnt for me

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

While certainly interesting, I had a bit of trouble with the changing point of views and timelines and was quite lost. Might have to try in print!

"The Perishing" was a tough book for me to get into, and I found the whole thing complicated and confusing. Not one of my favorites this year.

I wanted to like this book. I am obsessed with both historical fiction and also time centric books (be it reincarnation or time travel or anything.) But this book just felt…like a Pinterest fail. You know those hilarious things where people follow this beautiful cake recipes exactly and it winds up being a disaster? While I definitely won’t go as far as calling this book a disaster, it just felt flat. It felt like it had this recipe it was trying to follow (dual timelines between the beginning and the end, buzz words with todays hottest political issues, etc.) but the whole time something was missing. The only thing that kept me going was I truly WANTED to like this book but nothing in the book actually hooked me at all. I felt so detached the whole time just waiting for it all to come together.

Genre: historical fiction, ownvoices, speculative fiction
Pub date: Nov 2 (out now!)
In one sentence (from publisher): A Black immortal in 1930s Los Angeles must recover the memory of her past in order to save the world.

This book is really hard for me to rate! It's unlike anything I've read before, and I really appreciate the novelty. The best part of the novel is Lou, our 1930s protagonist - I was so entranced by her story. I highlighted so many passages on my kindle as she discussed racism and prejudice.

The frame of the story outside of Lou confused me a bit - a character named Sarah narrates from the future, and it's not clear what her role is. There's also a dramatic plot that takes place out of the blue in the last 20% of the book, and it didn't fit well with the rest of the story.

If you like speculative fiction, you may enjoy this book. Despite its flaws, I loved Lou's character development and I'm still glad I read it. I'll be interested to see what the author writes next, as she has a lot of potential!

Thank you to Counterpoint Press for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Déon's writing and conceptualisation of her character and premise are reminiscent of Octavia Butler and that should have been a win. Her attention to detail is apparent in the depiction of various social tensions and issues of 1930s Los Angeles and was appreciated.

Jumps between times, backwards and forwards, introduces unique and mysterious aspects of our protagonists and their predicament: existing in multiple timelines, dealing with multiple issues of belonging, identity, and representation.

This has everything to be complex and intricate, but loses much with its incomplete histories of two of three characters who should anchor a strong story. It makes the reader question the need for these two who do little to drive the plot forward.

Where she lost the pacing and character development is when she decided to drop in an exposition on boxing. This broke the tone of the story as it did nothing to advance the arc of Lou. Now there are incidences of this throughout, but they are succinct and only help in building out the necessary aspects of character and story.

I just wish more time and attention had been given to fleshing out the development of each main character and how they would play into the ensuing revelation.

The Perishing by Natashia Deon, is an interesting novel about Lou, a young Black woman who wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles. She is basically naked and has nothing to her name. She is taken in by a foster family and there starts her life, but Lou has no memory of what life was like before her time in the alley. Lou has so many questions but with little answers she decides to focus on her education while trying to put the past behind her. Lou goes on to be the first Black female journalist at the Los Angeles Times, but Lou’s life becomes even more interesting when she becomes friends with a firefighter, a man who's face she knows well because she has been drawing it for years.

There are so many social issues that are brought up regarding people of coloring and women of color that makes this novel an important read. But, with the nonlinear plot, I became confused many times. Also, the story line is sometimes hard to follow as well. The story jumps back and forth between Sarah in 2102 and Lou in the early 1930s. Sarah’s chapters are shorter and more of an emotional reflection on events that take place in Lou’s life. The book synopsis does not mention Sarah which is a character that can make the story line confusing in some places yet bring meaning and depth in others places

Overall, I think this book should be getting more recognition than it is for the important issues discussed. The audio book was fantastic and really brought the book to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Counterpoint Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not what I Was expecting which isn't to say it's not an ambitious novel that delves into unexplored territory. It just didn't resonate with me as much as I thought it would.

I was excited to try this book as I hold Book of the Month very highly and this was one of their selections. Unfortunately, I struggled to get invested. I tried both the ebook and audio. The writing was good and I liked Lou but I found a plot to be severely lacking.

The Perishing is a wildly imaginative debut novel. With notes of fantasy, magical realism, and the pathos of contemporary fiction, Deon takes the reader through a wild ride.

This title just didn't work for me. It's been getting great reviews, and I would definitely try another title by this writer, but the structure and violence in this title were a bit much for me.