This is an unsettling book about the way Black and Brown people are treated, not only in the US, but in Canada. The story revolves around a mixed race family in Canada. The husband has a PhD and is a college professor. His wife is originally from Canada, but moved to Jamaica, where the couple met. They have two children, years apart in age.

The story moves through time jumps, back in time and then forward again. The timeframe is clear from the chapter titles and from the stages of the couple and their children.

Antony is angered and motivated by racial injustice. He sees himself as a "zebra" neither white, nor black. He is at odds with his parents, particularly his father. The timeline moves from a young couple meeting and falling in love, through the joy of marriage and a new baby and continues through tragedy and the family coming apart at the seams.

It isn't an easy story to read, but it's an important book about love, racial strife, and the destruction of a family. I have both the e-book and the audio book. The narrator is excellent.

We Rip the World Apart
By Charlene Carr

5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Audiobook

Thank you to @netgalley for facilitating early access to this beautiful story.
Starting off in 2021 as the Black Lives Matter movement takes hold, multigenerational story will leave your heart in pieces.
@charlenecarrauthor doesn’t hold back in addressing racism, family, loss, grief, and other controversial topics. A journey through life, love, tragedy and a search for self.
The narration of the audiobook is beautifully done.
My heart has been touched and this amazing story is one that will stay with me.

Release date: January 28, 2025

#netgalley #weriptheworldapart #newrelease #jan2025 #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #books #bookaddict #booklover #audiobook #goodreads #readmorebooks #bookworm

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I would give this a 3.5! Maybe 3.25.

We’ll start with what I didn’t like:

I have complicated feelings about this book. And I wanna acknowledge that it can be hard for me, a white woman, to fully grasp to depth and complexity of the emotions/issues presented here through my lens of white privilege. I want to be clear that my critiques are for the craft of the writing and not the content.

I think that the examination of police brutality, the senseless killing of black men and boys and it’s a generational effect is an important one to be examined through both fiction and non-fiction. First and foremost I want to be clear that the topics in this book are uncomfortable, and meant to be, and very worthy of discussing and I agree fully with the overall sentiment.

I knew going into this that I have in general had a lot hard time with multigenerational saga stories. This is absolutely just reader error/preference. They tend to be slower and more introspective, which was true in this case. I think my largest problems have to do with the pacing of the story, and as a personal preference, I don’t tend to enjoy as much introspection as was done by the characters in this book.

We spent a lot of time in two of the main character thoughts rather than having the plot of the novel come forward at a more regular pace. For about the first 80% of the story, we were kind of dealing with veiled truths and very slow pacing. Then in the last 20%, there is a significant trauma revealed and the resolution comes very quickly after that. I’m not saying I need half of a book to deal with a large reveal, but in this case it was offset by how slow the first 80% of the book had been. So that’s a me thing. Pacing and introspection = not for me.

Of the characterization, I really enjoyed the father, brother, and grandmother (in fact more of the GMA would have been awesome). However, the main character felt the least developed to me, which may be the point as she is working through immense trauma. But by the end I found her to be, I don’t know? Very very short sighted? In a way that I know was supposed to be a part of her arc but again that didn’t really come through for me. It just didn’t work for me.

My only other complaint is that due to the introspection, much of this book read like a non fiction think piece in the Atlantic rather than a fictional account of police violence. A lot of statements we see from Black Lives Matter protestors were thrown around left and right like copy and paste bullet points rather than the author providing us with newer takes. As I said, these topics are so important, all those sentiments are true, and we should be talking about this constantly. but it felt like I was listening to a flyer or a protest speech, not a novel.

Okay complaints aside let’s talk about what I liked:

This book was not afraid to tackle complex issues in a way that I think it would be accessible for broader readers. I think that for people who are not as familiar with the Black Lives Matter movement in general, this will be a great entryway into empathy and understanding.

I think the political weaving of Jamaica in contrast with Canada was new and fresh. It made me think about these topics from a different POV than I really have before (said the white woman I know).

I also think that while the mother character could have been more…I don’t know the word I’m looking for but something just felt slightly off about her, she was still a very nuanced character and I like that she was allowed to be both bad and good in a way I appreciated.

The heart in this book is immense. The care and nuance and space the characters hold for each other is so inspiring. Looking police brutality in the face is what we need from more authors of all genres.

WOW, WOW, WOW! That ending! (well, the 80-90% part)
Easy 5 stars
I've not read something this powerful in a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early opportunity to read and review. I have to admit, I went in mostly blind, and as it started, I thought, "this is dragging"... but fairly quickly after that, I was hooked!

It spans quite a few years as we watch kids grow. A White mother, a Black father, and their young son -- a son who, as he grew, recognized that his "blackness" will get him hurt someday -- He didn't know how, but he just knew/felt it would. Canada was a different place in the 80's when the Jamaican Exodus occurred, where Black men were viewed with suspicion. The couple has an "oops" baby, and that's where things get interesting.

Trauma hits all around them. We follow the daughter's life (the novel takes place in her young adulthood) and then flash back to her mother's life. The father's Jamaican mother also comes to live with them and plays a pivotal role for all of them.

We visit the beginnings of the BLM movement and then Covid... important conversations all around. But the author crafted these characters so deeply, that I felt validation and vindication for one and anger for another. And then, BAM! My feelings got turned upside down and around.

This book delivered stunning prose and relevance and opens the door to further conversations. I'm honestly shocked that we aren't hearing about this book more! Publishes January 28th - highly recommend.

Thank to NetGalley for an ALC. This book was really heart-wrenching and raw. I found the characters likable and the plot believable. It was sad and upsetting, and I think it needed to be to get its point across. This kind of stuff needs to stop happening.

We Rip the World Apart will rip your heart apart. This poignant, powerful, and thought provoking story is told across three generations of women. It tackles a multitude of difficult and important issues such as racism, interracial relationships, biracial identity, sexism, violence against women, trauma, the impact of multigenerational trauma, cultural differences, the search to understand one’s authentic self, and so much more. The writing is beautiful, and the author masterfully delves into the inner worlds of each character highlighting their personal turmoil when faced with impossible decisions.

This is a novel that I will not soon forget. Everyone should read this book! Thank you to NetGalley, RBmedia, and Charlene Carr for this free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Kareela, pregnant and unsure if she wants the baby, is struggling to find her place in the world as a biracial woman following the death of her brother in a police shooting.

Moving between the past and the present, Charlene Carr tells a beautiful and heartbreaking story about the impact of generational trauma and the struggles of being of two different races. While Kareela tries to figure out where she belongs, she is in a constant struggle (not black enough to be Black, not white enough to be white).

As the mom of a biracial son also of Jamaican heritage, at times this book was especially hard to read, particularly as it dealt with her brother’s death at the hands of the police. The impact of his death on their mom Evelyn broke my heart into a million pieces more than once. There is a whole lot of emotion tucked into these 400 pages and a family you can’t help but feel connected to both in the past and the present.

🎧 Narrator Tebby Fisher breathed life into this story, giving voice to each character in a wholly distinct way. This would make for an incredible immersive read (and book club read).

Read if you like:
▪️intergenerational stories
▪️complex mother/daughter relationships
▪️exploration of racial identity and racism
▪️dual timelines/POV

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark, Recorded Books, and Charlene Carr for the gifted copies.

This story starts at a BLM rally, and Kareela has just discovered she is pregnant. She is full of doubts, about keeping the baby, about her role in the BLM movement, about whether her boyfriend is right for her, and about her feelings toward her mother and grandmother. Kareela's story is interspersed with her mother Evelyn's point of view, taking us back to her migration from Canada to Jamaica and back, Kareela's childhood, and the devastating and violent death of Kareela's brother.
It took me a bit to get into this audiobook. It initially felt like there were too many issues going on and not enough letting the characters tell the story. But once it got going, I got to know the two women, and really felt for them.
This is a novel about racism, police violence, men's violence against women, and the devastating intergenerational impacts of coping with trauma and grief. It takes these issues to a personal level, as we see intimately how it impacts this one family. I thought the beginning and ending were a bit choppy, but overall I thought it was very insightful and emotional.
The audiobook narrator portrayed the two women very well.

Charlene Carr is back with another gut punch of a novel. We Rip the World Apart speaks to racism, family, motherhood, grief, trauma and loss. Centered on Kareela, a twenty four year old woman, who finds out she's pregnant and is unsure of what to do about it. The daughter of a Jamaican father and white mother, Kareela hasn't quite found herself so she doesn't think she is ready to bring another life into this world. Told mostly from Kareela's current point of view along with the history of her mother Evelyn. After marrying a black man in Jamaica, Evelyn, Kinglsey and their young son Antony flee the country to her homeland of Canada during the Jamaican exodus of the 1980s, thinking they would be safer. Once they settle into their new life however, Evelyn realizes that black men might not be any safer here as they are constantly viewed as other and looked down upon by many. When Antony is a teenager he gets himself involved in standing up for black rights while Kinglsey tries to assimilate himself as much as he can into the Canadian culture, so as to appear less "other." After Antony is killed by police, the family is rocked and Kingsley's mother Violet moves up from Jamaica to be a source of comfort to the family, especially Kareela, who Evelyn can no longer care for. The three women's stories and lives and many, many heartbreaks are weaved together over the course of the novel that will absolutely rip you apart.

Poignant and moving story, given the fact that it's the reality of a lot of people.
I felt like the pacing was slow yet so much things happened.
The characters go through A LOT and sometimes I had to stop my reading to take a big breath.
A family struggle to move forward with; the grief of a child killed by the police, systemic racism, job discrimination, motherhood, multi-generational trauma, search for belonging as a biracial person...

An important read to let the voices of racialized people be heard, for, and especially, white readers.

thank you netgalley for the copy.

I have previously read this book and loved it, so I was very excited to try out the audiobook!

Evelyn, a white female meets her husband Kingsley in Jamaica. When the political climate became dangerous in the 1980s, the young couple moved to Toronto and raised their young son, Antony. Growing up half black in Toronto in the late 90s/early 2000s was a different kind of dangerous, and Evelyn and Kingsley feared for their son's life anytime he came in contact with the police, whether that be during a peaceful rally, or unfortunately could even happen when driving his car or walking down the street. When their nightmares are realized and Antony is killed by police officers, their family is never the same.

Evelyn's daughter Kareela (Antony's much younger sister) is the other FMC and shares her POV mainly in 2022. She is living with her boyfriend (who is white) and when she finds herself pregnant she is unsure if she wants to both commit to the relationship she is uncertain about and bring a child into the world. As the story unfolds, readers learn that the complexities of being Black or in a mixed-race relationship in Canada, as well as the discrimination they face on a daily basis, and even more so, the dangers that come with that discrimination.

I did find that some of the timelines were a bit difficult to keep track of. Even though the chapter title said "Evelyn 1997" it didn't necessarily mean the whole chapter took place in 1997, sometimes part of the chapter was a reflection on what had taken place when she lived in Jamaica or when she was growing up etc. For the most part it was clear enough, but at times I thought it could have been a tiny bit clearer. Similarly, early in the novel I was confused about location for some of it, but once I realized that Kareela was in Halifax, and Evelyn was in Toronto until around 2010 at which point she moved to a small town in Nova Scotia, then it made more sense. It was probably more me not paying enough attention.

Carr did an excellent job with this one, her story gives readers such a neat perspective, especially in the Canadian context, because there are people out there who think racism doesn't exist in Canada or "isn't as bad as the states".

The narration is great and compliments the excellent writing and storyline. I would definitely recommend the audiobook version as well as the hardcopy. Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher, for giving me the chance to listen to this this fantastic audiobook!

Charlene Carr’s We Rip the World Apart is an emotional and powerful story about race, motherhood, and systemic racism. Through the perspectives of three women across different timelines, it explores grief, trauma, and the fierce love that pushes parents to do anything to protect their kids. The recurring line, “I’d rip the world apart to keep her safe,” hit me hard—it perfectly captures the lengths we’d go to for a better world for those we love. The audiobook, narrated by Tebby Fisher, is fantastic. Her performance brings the characters to life and nails the Canadian and Jamaican accents, making it an amazing way to experience the story.

That said, the book has its struggles. The pacing can feel slow, and it circles the same emotional moments a bit too much. Some parts, like the portrayal of police corruption, felt over-the-top and pulled me out of the story. By the time the big reveals came around, they were told, shown, and told again, which dulled their impact. Still, the themes are important and thought-provoking. If you’re new to Charlene Carr, though, I’d recommend starting with one of her other books to get a better feel for her storytelling style.

I was given a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I have read Charlene Carr's other books and enjoyed them.

The narrator of this book is excellent. She gets the voices to feel right, both the Canadian accents and the Jamaican ones.

This book attempts to tackle a lot of very big issues. I'll list the ones that come to mind: unplanned pregnancy, race, grief, loss, motherhood, racism, systemic racism, police brutality, Black Lives Matter, abortion, belonging. Unfortunately, it is very slow and repetitious. The book is told through three time periods and three women, but feels like it hits the same moments over and over again.

Another problem is it goes too far. I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but this might be a bit spoilery. The police shoot and kill Antony. They are exonerated in the investigation. Then they go around threatening people to keep their mouths shut. Systemic racism is what allowed them to be exonerated. There is no need to go around threatening people, that's just corruption. In a system stacked toward the police they believe they have done the right thing, there is no need for this individual level of intimidation. the system is on their side. It just felt like Carr (who is mixed race herself and I'm sure has has experienced racism, systemic and otherwise) had overplayed her hand.

When the final reveal is revealed it is literally told and then shown and then told again and it's just more pain. By then I had pretty much checked out, but it was all a bit much.

If not for the narrator I would have given this book two stars. I suggest starting with Carr's other work.

𐙚 Cultural Heritage & Legacy
𐙚 Social Injustice & Activism
𐙚 Foundations of Identity

I relished every moment of this story. It was raw and deeply moving, pulling you in from the start. Charlene Carr’s We Rip the World Apart is a deep exploration of grief, identity, and the relentless bonds of family. Told through the perspectives of three generations—Kareela, a pregnant biracial woman grappling with uncertainty; Evelyn, her white mother navigating guilt and loss; and Violet, her Jamaican grandmother with a rich but painful past. The story spans decades, unraveling the ripple effects of choices, trauma, and systemic injustice. Carr’s writing is both tender and unflinching. This book immerses you in the raw emotions of a family torn apart by tragedy yet bound by love. The themes of race, motherhood, and resilience are tackled with a profound honesty that lingers long after the final page. The audiobook, narrated by Tebby Fisher, is a standout, with Violet’s Jamaican accent adding a layer of authenticity that brought the characters to life. This is a heartrending and unforgettable novel that challenges and transforms.

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰/5

Thank you for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. ・❥・

Charlene Carr’s We Rip the World Apart is a masterful and gut-wrenching novel that takes readers on a raw, emotional journey through the deeply intertwined themes of race, motherhood, police brutality, and trauma. This multi-generational, deeply personal story delves into the complexities of biracial relationships and the unique burdens placed on families navigating systemic racism. It is a novel that moved me to anger, brought me to tears, and left me profoundly changed.

At its heart, We Rip the World Apart examines how grief and trauma ripple through a family after tragedy strikes, affecting each member in ways that are both unique and universally heartbreaking. Carr’s storytelling is as intimate as it is unflinchingly honest, exposing the raw nerves of loss and the fierce love that drives parents to do anything to protect their children. The quote, “I’d rip the world apart to keep her safe,” is a poignant refrain that resonated deeply with me, encapsulating the lengths to which we would go to secure a better, safer world for our children. Readers should be aware of potential triggers, including racism and abortion, as Carr does not hold back from confronting these issues in a deeply affecting manner.

The audiobook is narrated by Tebby Fisher. Fisher’s emotive performance brings layers of depth and feeling to the story, elevating its impact. Her ability to convey the raw emotional weight of the characters’ struggles and triumphs is tremendous, making the audiobook version highly recommended for readers who want to immerse themselves fully in the novel’s powerful themes.

Having read and loved “Hold My Girl”, I was excited to read Charlene Carr’s new book, “We Rip the World Apart” and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Kareela is 24 and pregnant with a baby she’s not sure she wants. As a bi-racial woman, she is struggling to understand where she fits into society and she feels let down by her parents, particularly her mother. Her brother was killed in a BLM demonstration and the family’s grief has pushed them further apart.

The story is narrated by Kareela, her mother, Evelyn, and her paternal grandmother, Violet, across several
Timelines from the 1980’s to the present day.

The writing is stunning. The story is emotive, heartbreaking and raw, and demonstrates how decisions made in the moment can have far reaching consequences. There was so much in this book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. The ending was desperately sad.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Tebby Fisher, who did a brilliant job in bringing the characters to life.

5⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Charlene Carr and RB Media for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

PHENOMENAL!!!

My goodness the audiobook was perfect. I loved the authentic Jamaican accent of Violet! It added to the whole experience of truly being pulled into the story with this family.

It’s raw and gut-wrenching that it forces us to confront the deepest parts of ourselves. This book did just that—and more. From the very first page, Carr weaves a powerful, unflinching tale of love, loss, and the relentless pursuit of redemption.

Carr did a great job!!!! I loved it!!!