Review of Monday’s not coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

TW: abuse

In Monday’s not coming, Claudia and Monday are BFFs. They are soul sisters. While Claudia was a quiet and reserved person, Monday had a larger-than-life personality. When Monday suddenly went missing, Claudia refused to stop asking questions.

One of the things that stood out to me was the character development and story-within-the-story plot that the author employed in the book. At first, it looked like Claudia couldn’t do anything without Monday. In reality, both girls couldn’t do anything without the other. That was how much they loved each other. Each drew strength and courage from the other. It was like they lived for each other. Claudia was stronger than the world gave her credit for. She had a quiet strength about her and it was incredible to see her discover herself in Monday’s absence.

This YA novel also shows how rotten the system is in America (all over the world, to be honest) and literally no one is looking out for black girls. Not child services, not the police, and definitely not the school. This was an heartbreaking read.

The book examined themes relating to friendship among black girls, community, love and loss.

What stressed me out the most was the timeline of the story. It made it extremely hard to follow the plot.

Mirroring the reality, it is fascinating to see how well written the suspense of the book is. Such that, even when I could guess the ending, it was devastating to confirm my guesses.

I was not surprised when Monday’s deadbeat father decide to sue the community for his daughter’s disappearance.

This book reminds me so much of Native Son by Richard Wright. When the protagonist in Native Son mistakenly killed a white woman, he then sexually abused and killed a black woman out of anger and fear that he was about to be arrested for murder. And although he had killed two women, the black woman was treated as inconsequential and she was dismissed even in death.

Yes, time and time again the world has shown exactly how much it hates women. The world despises black women. This is why young black girls can disappear for weeks and the world will not stop to notice.

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